The Good the Bad, and the AWWW CRAP!
by Kitsune Foxfire
Summary: Naruto is suddenly in the Hellboy universe. Will Hellboy shoot first and ask questions later, or will Naruto go all demon on him? Randomness...based on Hellboy animated movies and Naruto manga. Mostly. rated T for now. Hiatus until further notice, sorry.
1. Big red and he's got a gun

**If ****Hellboy**** was real, I'd date him, in ****Naruto**** was real, I'd adopt him. As they are not…I obviously haven't found a way to make them so, and therefore do not own them. (debates going fan-girl and adding an OC) See bottom of chapter for why I did this and all that fun stuff.  
****Also, warnings on Naruto spoilers for current manga chapters. **

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Hellboy sagged in his seat. It had been a rough week in France, dealing with the Beast of Gevaudan. Who would have thought that after over a century, the demon wolf would have shown her ugly head? And the bitch had brought her brood as well. With a sigh, Hellboy scratched his tail. Those bite marks were annoying when healing.

And here he was, back at the BPRD less than five hours and already there was a briefing. At least Abe was there with him. "Hey, Abe, any clue what's the mission this time?"

"no," Abe blinked his eyelids, "not a clue. Though I heard that this one was a special request from an old friend of the professor."

"great….just great. Probably another case of hell squirrels."

"Oh I don't know," called Liz, walking in, "I thought those squirrels were kind of cute."

"Yeah, right up till they tried to eat you…"

"Well, that did put a damper of the cuteness factor." Liz smiled, taking the seat next to Hellboy. The three friends then began a list of the cutest creatures they fought right on down to the ugliest. To most of the BPRD this would be a weird conversation, but most members had not grown up within the inner sanctums. Or were unable to leave. Over the years, the three of them had learned to look at things with a good dollop of humor. A very warped humor, but humor none the less. These rambling conversations were what kept them sane and strengthened their friendship.

"Ah good, I see you all are here." Kate Corrigan grinned as she strolled into the room, followed by Manning and Professor Bruttenholm. Hellboy sat a little straighter. Normally when these three were involved, multiple missions were being assigned. _This could be fun_, he thought as the three seated themselves.

"As you know, you three were called here to handle a case for a friend of mine," began the professor. "Dr. Kishimoto called last week, suspecting that a small cult in his area were attempting some dark magic. He requested that we look into it."

"Oh, come on, Prof, why do you need us for that? Can't you just send some grunts?"

"There is reason to believe that this may be more than a professional courtesy." Interjected Kate, handing out briefing folders, "The cult, Akatsuki they call themselves, have been relatively quiet since the late 1800's. Seems that the original members were seeking immortality through various means; mixing dark and light magic, incantations, alchemy, the usual. There plans failed when the demon they accidently unleashed, Shukaku to be accurate, ate them. The demon then returned to the nether worlds."

"Facinating…" Hellboy muttered as he and the others flipped through the information, "and what does this have to do with us, exactly?"

"Well, apparently Shukaku sparked a new goal. This new version of the Akatsuki is aimed at omniscient power, guess the immortality angle didn't work."

"That's all well and good, but I still don't see where we come in," started Liz, "so far, this looks like something anyone could handle."

Manning cleared his throat, "Well, it seems that Dr. Kishimoto has stumbled across some evidence to suggest that they are attempting to raise a very firce demon, the, the…." He snapped his fingers, trying to come up with the name.

"Kyuubi, sir."

"Yes, that one. Seems to him that that would be a very bad thing. So you three are going to go and stop it, understood?"

"Kyuubi?" Abe asked, "Isn't that the 9 tailed demonic fox spirit of Japan?"

Liz shook her head, confused, "Wait, I thought that fox sprits in Japan were called Kitsunes and were relatively harmless. What's so bad about this one?"

"Well, according to legend, before it was sealed into another dimension, the Kyuubi laid waste to Japan. It's no longer a simple kitsune, but a monster." Kate supplied.

Slapping his knees, Hellboy rose from his seat, "pack your bags, kiddies, we're going to Japan."

**

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**

Naruto raced through the forest, driven by some internal need to move. Though three years had passed, he still felt no closer to rescuing Sasuke. It did not help that the last time he had seen his old friend Sasuke had nearly stabbed him with a big-ass sword. _And_ the Akatsuki were on the hunt for him again. It was hard for the intrepid blond to retain his outwardly happy demeanor in the face of such overwhelming bad news.

Naruto had decided that he needed some alone time, and had headed out of the village earlier hat day. He knew he wasn't supposed to, but in all honesty, he felt ready to snap. The boy may not have been the brightest ninja in the village, but even he knew that if he snapped, and the Kyuubi got out, even a little bit, the village was going to have a problem. So he had gone for a run, knowing he'd be back before dark.

Cutting across a meadow, Naruto passed a raven haired figure in a white-gray baggy top. The teen quickly backtracked and chased after the figure, "SASUKE!" he cried at the figure's back.

Naruto chased the figure for miles, quickly losing any chance of making it back to the village before dark. "SASUKE! Turn around and look at me damit!" he bellowed, unable to catch up, but remaining almost in reach.

In the near dark of the forest, Naruto missed the cloaked figure that was following him. Nor did he notice that he had been in this area before. Then again, he had been a little distracted with rescuing Gaara at the time. Suddenly Naruto realized something was up. Before he could do anything about it though, he was struck from behind. As the two Akatsuki aporoached the unconscious Naruto, Itachi dropped his genjutsu.

"well, that was easy" Kisame laughed. "Almost lead the idiot right to our front doors. Good plan Itachi." He slung the blond onto his shoulders. Without another word the two continued on towards the base.

* * *

**Kitsune**** Foxfire here.**** For those of you who have read my other works, you know crossovers really aren't my thing. I do "what if's" but see, I was watching ****Hellboy**** Blood and Iron, and I thought, ****Hey****, if a demon fox ever struck ****Hellboy**** would just smash it! Ok, so it was random, but I was planning the latest ****chapter (though it kind of writes itself), and I'm weird.**

**So my if info on ****Hellboy**** is not the best, I have not read most of the comics, I'm poor and in college. I have seen both animated movies, and the live action one, and really ****really**** WANT the comics. So if someone wants to Beta this who knows about ****Hellboy****, I'd be really ****really**** happy. I will continue it either way, but not too frequently, as I have M.L.C. to finish and I have no free time.**

**R&R pl****ease.**** No flames. (O****h, and****the ****Beast of ****Gevaudan**** is not something I made up, and can you place the professor's friend's name?)**


	2. Short, blond, with a demon

**Spoiler alert for Naruto! Events take place almost current with the manga! DO NOT READ IF THIS BOTHERS YOU!**

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"Well, Dr. Kishimoto seems like he knows what he's talking about," Sighed Liz as they waited for the truck to reach its destination. As they passed the Tokyo tower, she shook her head in disbelief, "Why can't these nut-jobs ever have their base in the woods or some dark cave? Why does it ways have to be a crowded city?" 

"Easier to commute to work that way I guess," joked Abe.

"Yeah. 'sides, maybe they got tired of caves." The three resumed their silence. In the end, they had taken a few more operatives with them, just in case. These were following in another vehicle a discreet distance behind them.

Annoyingly enough, at least from Hellboy's standpoint, they were heading to the Ikebukuro district. He shuddered at the thought of all of those fan-girls. He'd much rather a cave in the woods.

**

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**

"So we have captured the final Jeriki at last," the leader of the Akatsuki sounded as if he had a grin on his face. "Excellent, let us begin." The ceremony would take days to be complete, even longer then the last one, as more members of their group were dead. It had come to a shock when a group of leaf ninja had managed to defeat Hidan and Kakuzu with a minimum of losses to their side. Of course, the brat lying in front of him was at least partially responsible, so revenge was going to start a little early. The leader fought the desire to laugh as the ceremony began and Naruto was lifted into the air.

**

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**

"So while the others go through the front, we'll circle around back." Said one of the agents who was with Hellboy, Liz and Abe. "this way, we should be able to catch them all."

"Yeah, so long as hey haven't managed to conjure up something nasty…" muttered Liz.

Hellboy chuckled, "Don't worry Liz, if they have, I'll just have to go say hello." The small group slowly made it's way through the back. It wasn't long before they started to hear strange chanting. "looks like we're going to have company over for dinner, kiddies."

"So long as we're not dinner," retorted Abe.

**

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**

**Wake up dammit, we're running out of time! **snarled Kyuubi. He had been trying to rouse the brat since he started to feel the affects of the Akatsuki's spell day's ago. True, he did not really want to live imprisoned inside some stupid ninja-child, but it beat being dead. And that's what was going to happen to the both of them if he couldn't wake his host.

_Sasuke__ How'd I get here?_ muttered Naruto, looking around his mind's inner- landscape, or stomach's inner-landscape. He had never quite worked out where the seemingly endless labyrinth of wet sewers were.

_**You were stupid enough to get tricked, kit! The****Akatsuki captured you.**_

_But, I was chasing Sasuke…._

**_I don't have time to argue with you! Just call upon my power now kit!_**

_I told you I won't do that anymore. Last time you hurt Sakura-chan. Besides, why should I listen to you? _

_**Because if you don't we're both going to end up dead, NOW DO IT!** _Kyuubi growled, annoyed with his host. He understood that this spell weakened the host, and messed with their minds, but He had always just assumed Naruto didn't have much of a mind to begin with. After all, look at who he was chasing after.

_Oh, ok. That's a good reason_. The boy immediately started to call on the fox's power.

In the physical realm, the act didn't have much of an affect at first. All that it accomplished was to make Leader laugh at what he saw as a pitiable attempt to escape. That is, right up till Naruto reached the power of 2 tails. Then the statue that was pulling the Kyuubi's power started to shudder. At three tails, it shook.

"How is this possible?! We've captured more powerful demons then the 2 and 3 tailed, and this didn't happen!" Yelped Deidra, "Leader, what is going on?!"

"Simple," Itachi cut off the leader's shuddering attempt to belie what was happening, "The others were all to weak to fight back. Not only is Naruto fighting us, but the Kyuubi is helping him." The Uchiha turned his head and looked calmly at his leader, "I suggest we stop for now."

"NO! Keep going, he'll wear out soon. He's still just a kid. This is probably the worst he can do." The remaining Akatsuki members looked at him dubiously before continuing with their spell.

For a while, it looked like the renewed concentration was working, as Naruto's power fluctuated and suddenly lessoned. Leader smiled, thankful he had guessed right, only to have that smile turn into a look of panic as the Kyuubi unleashed the fourth tail. The boy's body transformed into that of a demented looking red fox with a fore-shortened muzzle, with a set of four tails streaming out behind him. Still, the blond remained unmoving. The statue shook and shuddered, groaning with the movement, but it still held. Just as the smarter Akatsuki members started to shift their weight for a mad dash to the exit, Naruto moved. With a demonic grin, the Kyuubi-Naruto created a simple resengan and smashed it into the statue that was holding them/him aloft.

The statue collapsed in on itself. Kyuubi-Naruto landed lightly on his feet, grinning. Before revenge could be taken on the stunned Akatsuki, something strange happened. The statue, which was little more then rubble, sucked the demon-boy into itself.

**

* * *

**

Everything had gone mostly according to plan. The BPRD members had captured most of the Akatsuki members. Only a few of the cult members had managed to escape initial roundup. They had barricaded themselves into a back room. As Hellboy waited to the door to finish burning through (Liz was tired of playing with these guys, it seemed) he felt something, almost like a pop.

"Liz, you better stay here. I think they might have finished calling their 'friend'. Let me go check it out."

"Sure, no problem, Red."

Hellboy had to duck as he entered the chamber, his hooves clicking on the cement. He was an intimidating sight, backlit by the burning remains of the door. The cult members, however, were not impressed. "Away, demon! We stand before you as he masters of a creature far worse then you!" The speaker gestured dramatically to the back of the room, where a small statue lay shattered at the feet of a creature.

"That's supposed to scare me?"

The creature said at the same time, _"**You are the fools who called me here?**"_

_"Yes, mighty Kyuubi! We are you're new lords and masters!"_ the man strode forth till her stood right in front of his new 'servant'._ "I demand you destroy that beast!" he_ pointed to Hellboy

_"**I take orders from no-one**" _with that, Kyuubi backhanded the man….right into a wall. With a snarl, the fox demon descended on the other humans in the room, tossing them about like ragdolls before turning his attention to Hellboy._ "**were you a part of this folly, demon?**"_

Pulling out his gun, Hellboy shrugged, "Nah, I just thought I'd stop by and see the show."

_"**I see….**"Kyuubi, go away, you stupid fox! Give me back my body! **No **yes!_

"Hey, did you know you're kind of…well, smoking?" Hellboy pointed to the shoulder of the Kyuubi, which was covered in blood and steaming.

_"**I am.**" See? We're going to die if you don't give me back control!_

"Just checking." He aimed his gun, "I'm gonna have to ask you to leave, then." **Fine, you may have the body back****kit, for now….** The Kyuubi collapsed, sending up a cloud of dust. "Wow, that's never worked before." Hellboy walked over to the slowly settling dust, "I guess I scared him….oh crap." He looked down on a young man, covered in dust, sporting a fluffy tail and fox ears. He was also naked.

"What is it?" called Liz, coming into the room. She walked over to where Hellboy stood, gun pointing down. When she saw what exactly he was aiming at she whistled, "wow. Way cuter then demon squirrels…"

_

* * *

_**Ok, well that ends the second chapter. More will come. I'm takeing a temporary Break from MLC, my outragously (for me) popular Naruto story as well as this story. I'll be back on it sometime in august. Sorry, but I've got the Otakon thing comeing up, and work, and my health kinda sucks right now. Anyway, still would love Reviews, please no flames, and if you have Hellboy info, send it my way! Oh, and I know the transportation seems a little contrived, but go with it!**


	3. Blue, webbed, with gills

Naruto slowly woke up after the Kyuubi released him. He felt….weird, and cold. Well, everything except his butt was cold. Which was weird. As the blond slowly shifted, waiting for his body to catch up with his mind in the wake-up department he realized that there was a lot about the day that had been 'weird', even by his standards. As he tried to roll over a piece of cement dug into his hip. It felt as if he was naked, but that couldn't possibly be right, could it?

"I think he's waking up, Liz. Better stand back."

"Oh, come on, that's just ridiculous…!"

A cultured voice interrupted, "No, I think Hellboy's right Liz, I'd stand back if I were you."

Something hard nudged Naruto's side, "Hey, you awake yet?" another nudge, "I'm getting awfully tired of waiting. Can't I just shoot him?" _huh? Shoot me? __Kyuubi__ what's going on? _With a groan the blond raised his head, only to find himself staring into Abe's blue face.

Abe smiled, "Oh, good, he's awake. Hello, my name is ……"

"WAAA!" with surprising speed for someone who'd been lying flat on their stomach for the last half an hour Naruto flipped away from Abe. "Kissame!" he snarled, collecting himself in a crouch, reaching for the weapons pouch that just wasn't there, "I'm going to kill you!" he launched himself at Abe…

Only to be caught mid-leap by Hellboy, "Wow, I'm impressed." laughed the demon as he held onto Naruto's tail with his stone hand. "Pretty handy leash this thing is." He tugged on the tail.

"OW! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!" Naruto shrieked as he tried to leap away.

"What? Oh, this?" Hellboy tugged again.

The blond ninja once again reached for a weapon that wasn't there, "STOP THAT!"

"Then stop trying to attack my friend, kiddo."

Abe meanwhile was totally calm about the snarling snapping youth inches from his face. He had noticed as Naruto had brushed his hand just above his thigh. With a nod, he looked at Liz, "Could you get a jacket from one of the other agent's please?"

"Sure…."

"THREE ON ONE, OH YEAH, THAT'S FAIR, KISSAME, BET IT'S ITACHI AGAIN! OWWW!"

"Shut it will ya?"

"I do believe you have me confused with someone else. I'm Abe. That's Liz, and the big guy who's holding your tail is Hellboy." Abe explained as Liz brought him a jacket.

"What tail?"

"Put this on."

"Why should I trust you?"

Suddenly Liz laughed, "Oh my god, you don't know!"

At this point Naruto was very confused. First they were telling him he had a tail, and then they were being nice….now some stupid woman was laughing at him. His ears twitched as he growled at her, "What is your problem?"

"Kid, take the jacket," Hellboy emphasized the order with another tug.

"OW! Would you stop whatever it is you're doing? It hurts more than Kakashi-sensi's '1000 years of pain' and why should I?"

"Look down, stupid."

"I am not Holly crap I'm Naked!"

"Here," Liz once again offered the oversized Jacket to Naruto, "this'll help. I'd get you a pair of pants but we don't have any."

"……" beat red Naruto took the jacket and quickly put it on. He refused to look at Liz, muttering a thank-you into thin air.

After a few awkward minutes had passed and it was obvious that Hellboy's trigger finger was starting to itch, Abe attempted to diffuse the situation, "If you don't mind me asking, Kyuubi, who exactly were those people you thought we were? And how is it you speak English."

"Some guys that were after me… Sorry about that, guess you aren't Atsuki guys after all…." Naruto frowned, "I'm not the Kyuubi, I'm Naruto."

"Naruto, huh? Well, where you from?"

"I'm a ninja from Konohana, in the fire nation. What villages are you all from?"

Liz frowned, "I don't know, could you consider the BPRD a village?"

"Well, I don't know, Sparky. I guess you could…." answered Hellboy, no longer tugging on the tail, but still holding on.

"I've never even heard of that village!" the blond pouted, crossing his arms over his chest.

"what I would like to know," started Abe as other agents came in to the room to inform the group it was time to go, "is how you came to be here instead of the Kyuubi." He cocked his head to the side, "you most defiantly don't look like a ten story tall fox with nine tails. No offence Naruto, I'm sure you are an excellent fox demon in your own rights."

"Huh? I'm not a fox demon! I'm not even a demon at all!" Naruto glared at the new intruders in the room, all who were from the BPRD, not that he knew that. "what are you all looking at?!"

"Poor kid, musta hit his head during all the commotion." tisked Hellboy.

Growling in frustration, the teen craned his head around to glare at Hellboy, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Uh, have you looked in a mirror recently?"

"_Y__es_ I have."

Liz couldn't take it anymore, watching the large fluffy ears atop of the blonds head twitch back and forth was just too much for her, "Look, I'm sorry to interrupt this macho fest, but can I feel them?"

"Huh?!"

"Your ears, can I feel them please?"

"Ummmmmmm……..okay,"

"They just look so soft!" Liz reached out and tweaked his ears, which twitched again, he suddenly had an earge to scratch them with his foot. As the firestarter continued to play with his ears the ninja got one of those sinking feelings.

"Oh crap. OOOOO crap. I'm going to Kill Kyuubi! I swear it you stupid fox!" he fumed, "**Trust me **he says! Let go of my –dear god I can't believe I'm saying this- tail, asshole."

Hellboy dropped the appendage, more because it was no longer fun to tug on."Sure. Since you asked so nicely."

The new half demon walked over to a wall and with a grunt leaned against it, "OK! First off, Normally I do not have fluffy ears or a tail. In fact, when I woke up this morning….or was it yesterday?...I was happily tailless. I also wasn't a demon. I was a demon _vessel_. Kyuubi was inside of me. Or he was till the Atsuki started their little spell trying to get him out….."

"Wait, those guys kidnapped you?" Liz asked.

Abe looked at Naruto closely, before responding, "I think……that we may be talking about two different groups. We may need Kate to look in to this. Would you come with us? At least for a while, Naruto?"

"Sure, why not?" the blond frowned, "this is a really bad day. Can I get some pants at least?

* * *

**well, finally updated this. no clue where it's going, how it'll get there...ideas welcome. If I don't get any, well, we'll see what happens. Naruto is a little fuzzy on what happened when Kyuubi took over, so he doesn't really even remember asking the fox to stop. Kyuubi will be back, he's just sleepy after all that work. At this point, everyone is confused. My other Naruto story, (MLC) has ended, and this is going to have a lax update schedule no matter what. Also working on a Spoiler drable Naruto fic...I really need to branch out. Maybe I'll to Tsubasa next...that's it for now, R&R please.**


	4. Tall, brunnet, with fire

It hadn't taken long to round up the rest of the group and head out. Naturally, the first stop was going to have to be Dr. Kishimoto's as he was their connection in Japan for this mission, and if they were lucky, he'd know something about Naruto. Of not, they'd have to wait until they went state-side to talk to Kate.

"Are you sure you're not related to Kisame?" Naruto asked for what had to be the hundredth time as the truck rumbled towards Dr. Kishimoto's office. He seemed much more relaxed now that he had a pair of pants on. They had had to cut a tail hole, but then again, it wasn't like they were not used to that sort of thing, giving the way Hellboy went though cloths.

"I cannot say for sure, though I doubt it." Abe said as Hellboy calmly shook his head and tried to light his cigar.

As the truck bounced over a speed bump Naruto snorted, "Come-on! He's a fish-person, you're a fish person, I mean, how many fish people can their be in the world?!"

"Would you just shut up about that already?" snapped Hellboy. "Geeze, can't a guy smoke in peace?" he glared at the youth, "Kid, do you ever shut up?"

"Nope!" the blond proclaimed proudly, "I'm the villages number one..." Luckily for the rest, it was at that moment they pulled up to the rather large building, causing Naruto to totally forget what he was saying.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, Abe cut in, "Ah, good, were here. Liz, why don't you and I go warn the good doctor before we introduce him to our new friend here."

"That's a good idea. After all, we set out with only three freaks. I doubt anyone would have expected us to find another freak to tag along."

"HEY!" whined Naruto, trying to follow them out the car, "Why can't I come? Don't leave me with the Ogre!"

Grabbing Naruto by the scruff, Hellboy lifted the boy clear off the ground, "Who you calling an ogre, pup?" he growled.

"Let me goooooo!"

"Nah, I think I'll just hold on to you for a bit. Don't wanna give the good old doctor a heart attack when he meets his demon."

"…..oh."

Meanwhile, Liz and Abe were quickly briefing Kishimoto on what had happened. The doctor was surprised, to say the least. He was even more shocked when Naruto came bouncing into the room having slipped out of Hellboy's grasp, a golden ball of energy, and rushed him.

"Do you know me? Do you know Kyuubi? Do you know what happened? Where am I? How do I get home? Where is home? What the hell happened? And why the fuck do I have a tail???!!!" He paused to take a breath, only to have Liz slap a hand over his mouth.

"Calm down, give the guy a second, will you?"

"This…this is what came through the gate?" Kishimoto looked at Naruto closely, "It seems the Kyuubi has shrunk quite a bit since his last visit to Tokyo." He smiled at the boy, "Hello, I'm Dr. Kishimoto. Tell me, do all foxes transform like you have, or are they better at it? Is it true that your shadow can give you away?"

"Somehow, I feel insulted." Muttered Naruto, his ears laying flat, "I have no clue what you're talking about. I'm not a fox! I'm a…."

"Really? You sure look like one with that tail." He looked up at Abe, "My guess is he is a young fox, accidently pulled through instead of the Kyuubi…perhaps a relative."

"I'm NOT A FOX! DAMNIT YOU BASTARD LISTEN TO ME!" Shouted the blond as Hellboy laughed. "SHUT UP YOU STUPID OGRE!"

"Poor thing seems a bit addled." Kishimoto snapped his fingers in front of the fuming youth to get his attention, "Kit, only foxes has fix ears and tails right?"

"……"

"and you have fox ears and a tail, right?"

"……."

"So therefore you are a fox."

"I could learn to hate you."

"Awww, don't be such a spoil sport, kid" Laughed Hellboy, coming up behind Naruto and slapping him on the shoulder while Liz and Abe struggled not to laugh at the boy's expression, "Anyway, Doc, any clue on how to send him back?"

"No, unfortunately. That information was lost to us a long time ago." He rubbed Naruto's head in a condescending manner, "Sorry, little guy, seems like you're stuck here for a while."

"Get. Your. Hand. Off. My. Head. You. Perv."

"Fisty little kit aren't you?" The doctor laughed, "anyway, maybe your friend Kate will have better luck on getting this little guy home to his family. I'm sure his Boss-fox misses him."

"Boss fox?" Abe asked.

"Oh yes. See, it is thought by some that the Kitsune live in a type of family, with the higher tailed foxes being in charge of the younger ones, like this scamp. Like underlings almost. Given how lively this little fellow seems to be, I'm sure his Boss has noticed he's not about."

"Really? Families you say? Fascinating, please tell me more."

"But of course, come with me, in my library I have some fascinating reference pieces…" The two left the room.

"So, you're "Boss-fox" going to miss you?"

"NO! I don't have a boss fox. I told you I'm not a fox….." Naruto pouted, though he thought of Tsunade and wondered if she was worried about him.

"Relax, HB is just pulling your tail." Liz gave Hellboy a dirty look, "We've got some time before we can head back to the states, so let's grab some food, how about it kid?"

"Food? Like Ramen?"

"You eat that crap?!" Hellboy shook his head, "Nachos kiddo, much better stuff."

"Nachos? What's that?"

"You've never had Nachos? Poor guy, can you believe it Liz?"

"Oh, 'gasp' the lack of Nachos…"she responded sarcastically. "Let's get you two something to eat. I'm betting Abe's going to be a while…."

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_**Kitsune foxfire here.**_

_**Yeah, I actually updated! OMG! You're shocked, I'm sure. Well, it kinda is amazing what with 6 classes (college senior), capstone, and work. But I still managed to get this one done. I know it isn't a long chapter, but the next chapter is State-side, and I figured it had to be separate. Anyway, I'll try and get another chapter up before Christmas…..But again, I've got no free time, and it saddens me, but fanfic comes WAY after homework.**_

_**Oh, and a quick note, everyone is speaking English, and no, no one has noticed how odd this is that Naruto is speaking English.**_

_**BY THE WAY I'm working on a little Naruto-crack-drabble with a friend, if anyone cares, It's going to be funny (I think) but no clue when it'll be up. Or what name it'll go under. I'll update my profile with the information when I get it. I hope you'll read it (and no I'm not telling you what it is about.) For now, R&R please.**_


	5. Calm, Collected, and Angry

"WOW! Amazing! Planes are so cool!"

Abe chuckled, "I take it that there are no planes where you come from?"

"No, but there are some cars and trains. I've seen those before." Naruto turned his winning smile on the group, "I've even been on a machine that flies. But it was full of gas."

"A dirigible, huh?" Hellboy shook his head, "Nasty things. Tend to explode."

"Well, what do you do when you need to go far?" Liz asked, "That must be a really long journey."

"No, not really. It only takes a couple of days to leave our country and get into another one."

"Small country."

Naruto just shrugged and went back to looking out the window.

"It seems like Naruto's world is a lot more primitive then ours." Commented Abe, looking at the happy teen.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," started Liz, "he wasn't surprised at all by the doctor's computer, or by my cell phone. I think it's just different."

"Well, hopefully Kate will know more."

* * *

Naruto looked around. He was not sure what he had been expecting, but it sure as hell wasn't this. His tail twitched, "You live in a dump?"

"Shuddup, kit." Growled Hellboy as Abe gently pushed Naruto threw the entrance of the compound.

The blond put back his ears and delivered a death-glare that would make Gaara proud, "I told you to stop calling me that!" he protested once again. Hellboy was just teasing the poor kid.

"Whatever you say, kiddo." Grinned Hellboy, fluffing Naruto's hair before moving on to the elevator.

Naruto snarled "I hate you, Ogre-man" at his back.

Helboy just laughed, "I love you too, you little monster." And blew a kiss.

That was the last straw, Naruto had been having a bad week, and he just couldn't stand any more of Hellboy's heckling. He was worse than Sai! "Why you!" he growled as he threw himself at the demon, latching onto his stone hand and trying to reach his face.

Liz was there immediately, trying to pull the boy off without hurting him, "Naruto! Stop it! He was just teasing!"

Hellboy, naturally, was a little surprised. So far the blond had taken the teasing in relative good humor. This sudden change in his attitude had come out of nowhere, everything about Naruto right now screamed angry animal. Yeah, he was being a little rough on the kid, but it wasn't every day another demon showed up that wasn't bent on destroying the world. Besides, the brat was a little annoying.

"What has gotten into you, kid?!" a bewildered Hellboy asked as he tried to fend off Naruto, which was no easy task in the confines of the elevator. you lend a hand?"

Abe just shook his head and watched as his long time friends tried to prevent the fox-boy from hurting Hellboy, "I doubt there is anything I can do, He seems to really have it in for you right now."

"Oh, gee, that's good to know. Thanks for all the help."

"If you let him hurt you, he might stop."

"Wadya want me to do, let him bite me? What good will that do?" Hellboy grumbled as Liz made some progress pulling the enraged youth off, "he probably has rabies…."

"I HEARD THAT YOU STUPID UGLY ERO-OGRE!" Naruto yelled, slipping out of Liz's grasp and lunging at Hellboy's face, ready to claw it to shreds. Luckily the elevator reached its destination, and with a ding the doors opened. Before Naruto could rake his claws across Hellboy's face, the very annoyed red demon slammed his stone hand into Naruto's gut, sending him flying out of the elevator and skidding across the floor. Right past Manning and Professor Bruttenholm in fact, who were quick enough to get out of the way, very shocked about the whole situation. Manning even drew his gun. "TEME!" Naruto snarled, clambering to his feet and glaring at Hellboy, planning his next attack.

Professor Bruttenholm was an easy going man. It took a lot to piss him off, and even when under attack, he kept his cool, and rarely raised his voice. The sight of his adopted son tossing a half-grown lad thirty feet was one of those things that made him mad. Even if the boy seemed to be fine… "Hellboy, tell me, why is it that you're home less than a minute, and you're already causing problems?" Helloy immediately forgot all about poor Naruto while he focused on the bigger threat, an angry dad. As for Liz and Abe, they subtly moved away from Hellboy.

"Hey, Father, it's not my fault! He started it, I swear!"

Naruto, being the poster child for ADHD was at this point distracted by his surroundings and no longer looking for a fight, snorted, "Yeah, blame it on me, you Bastard!" He glared at Manning and the professor, "Who the hell are you guys?"

"HEY Now! I'll be the one asking all the questions." snapped Mannings, keeping his gun pointed at Naruto while Buttenholm introduced himself.

"My name is Professor Buttenholm," he held out his hand, "I'm Hellboy's adopted father. The man over there is Mannings. And you are?"

Naruto eyed the proffered hand wearily, before finally taking it, "I'm Uzumaki, Naruto Uzumaki. Your son is a real ass."

"Yes, I'm aware of that," laughed the Professor, "Come, let us get you settled, I'm sure you are tiered. We'll see what we can do about getting you home tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" whined Naruto, "But I need to get back now! Everyone must be worried…Sakura-chan is going to be so mad at me, I left without telling her anything!"

"I understand your concern, but it's late, and Kate, the one who would probably be best at helping you, is not here yet." The professor patted Naruto's hand in a fatherly manner. "Manning has much to ask Hellboy and the others. Hopefully, in the morning, we will have some idea on how to help you."

Naruto looked into Buttenholm's eyes, he reminded him a lot of the third Hokage…. "All right, fine. I'll just hope Sakura doesn't hit me too hard…"

* * *

_**Kitsune here, YAY a chapter. Yeah, I planned on having Kate in this one, but it did not happen. Next chapter, for sure. And yesssss….there is a reason I stopped here. I'm also working on What Not T Wear Ninja Addition with Weevilone, (updated weekly) right now, and I have 3 or 4 stories on the planning board. No clue how many I'll do. But I d have a question on one. It's going to be a crossover between D.Gray-man and 666 Satan (also known as O-parts) and I wanna know, send D.Gray-man cast to 666 (more primitive world), or 666 to D.gray-man. let me know whatcha think….**_


	6. sleepy, pissed ahd hungry

It was always hard for Naruto to fall asleep in a new location. He didn't think it would be so much of a problem with that this time, he was just too exhausted to care that he was far from home. With a deep sigh, the blond curled up on the bough in the Library and settled in for a good night's sleep.

_Everything was much the same as he remembered it. The path to the Kyuubi's cage was the same, the tunnels were still flooded, the pipes still dripped. Frankly, Naruto was relieved, even though he had the ears and tail, it seemed that everything else was fine. He rounded the corner to where the Kyuubi's cage was, even it was still there, sealed up. Everything was going to be fine, Naruto heaved a sigh of relief, the Kyuubi had not gotten free, as he had been afraid of. With a small chuckle at his own fear Naruto turned to leave, rubbing his ears. Just as he was about to walk off, he caught sight of his reflection in the water. Crimson eyes looked back at him from a smug face._

_Enjoying my gift, little fox? laughed the reflection._

_Naruto fell over, and scrambled away, a hard task when one is running away from a reflection in water that you are sitting in. "It can't be! The seal…."_

_The seal is weak! Snapped the demon If it was not for me, you would be dead right now kit._

_"What are you talking about?!"_

_You really are stupid, huh? The Atsuki nearly succeeded. Even after breaking us free, the damage was to extensive for the weak pithily flow of chakra I use normally to heal you to work. The reflection grinned a dark evil grin, luckily for me, and of course, for you, the seal had been weakened enough for me to slip through like this._

_Naruto was naturally shaken, why on earth was he still in control of the body if Kyuubi was free? "So you're free now?"_

_The Kyuubi reflection spat, Hardly. I can not leave the water….unless I go back to that blasted Cage. Not that it would hold me anymore_. _He demonstrated, trying to reach Naruto himself, but the hand stopped, as if it had hit a wall of glass._

_"So….you're still trapped?" Naruto sighed, this would explain the ears…and why Kyuubi had not killed everyone._

_Maybe. Maybe not._ _Laughed the fox, Go to sleep, Kit, and find us a way to go back home…I have a bone to pick with the Atsuki… he growled as Naruto drifted into a deep, worried sleep._

"Time to wake up, Naruto," Called Abe from behind the glass wall in the Library. Naruto groggily rubbed his eyes, confused at first on why Abe was way over there and floating. It took him a few seconds to realize he was in what amounted to a giant aquarium. "Are you all right, Naruto? You were moaning in your sleep."

"Huh?" the dream-scape quickly came back to the boy, deciding he really did not want to go into it, let alone think about it he answered, "Yeah, fine…just a bad dream."

"I see then, well, the Professor and Kate will be here shortly, so I suggest getting something to eat."

Stretching, Naruto nodded in agreement, if nothing else, these people had good food, though he had not seen any ramen yet. Hugging his tail to himself, Naruto headed out to find the nearest bathroom before hunting out breakfast. As the blond left, Abe watched him carefully. He couldn't be sure, but for a while during the night, it had seemed as if Naruto was glowing slightly. For now, Abe would keep that bit of information to himself, for all he knew, it was normal, after all. Still...he'd watch the boy, just in case.

It wasn't long before Naruto found where they were hiding the grub. In an equally short amount of time he liberated quite a few pieces of sausages, eggs, bacon, pancakes, and a carton of milk. It was a true showing of his great ninja skills when he managed to make it from the kitchen all the way back to the library without being seen, though he did leave a delicious smelling smell in his wake. Upon returning to the Library, the blond did notice that he had forgotten a few important things.

"Um, Abe?" called Naruto as he looked for a place to stick his booty, "Do you have any plates in this room?"

"Why yes, actually, there are a few plates and such. The professor eats in here sometimes..." Abe explained as he turned around and saw a most amusing thing. There in the middle of the room stood Naruto, holding more then enough food to feed three people in his bare hands, and using his tail to clasp the milk to his hip. "Let me help you with that before you drop it all over the floor." smiled Abe, knowing better then to ask where the young demon had gotten all the food.

"Thanks a bunch!" chirped Naruto as the two of them settled all the food onto various plates (and occasionally old newspapers) on the table. "Itadakimasu!" he cried, digging into the food as if he hadn't eaten in a week. Of course, right then the rest of the group walked in.

"Ah good,I see our guest is having breakfast. Naruto, if I may interrupt you for a moment, allow me to introduce Kate Corrigan, she will be helping us find a way to get you back home."

"It's nice to meet you, Mister Uzumaki." Kate said, holding out her hand.

Naruto just looked at her hand for a second, before shaking it. Swallowing his current mouthful he grinned, "Just call me Naruto."

"Damn chefs, messing up my breakfast. Hey, Prof, can we get on with it?" growled Hellboy as he stomped into the room.

Liz, coming in right behind him frowned in conseration "Something wrong, Red?"

"Yeah, there's something wrong! Half my breakfast was missing this morning, and the chefs say that they put it all out, " he whorled and glared down at Liz, "do I _look_ like I need a diet?"

Naturally, Liz was completely unphased by his towering over her, "I don't know, I think eating a little less couldn't hurt."

By this point, Abe had realized were Naruto, who seemed to be completely ignoring the others in favor of eating, had gotten the food. Kate and Professor Bruttenholm also realized it quickly and all three shifted to block Naruto, and his stolen meal, from Hellboy's sight.

"Might I suggest," muttered Bruttenholm, "eating faster?"

"...I need all that food Liz, how could you turn on me like that?"

Liz harrumphed, "Well, if your still _that _hungry, why not ask Naruto if he'd share." Kate started to wave her hands franticly, trying to tell Liz silently to suggest something else. It was times like these Kate wished she was a telepath. Liz, who had seen them all shift to block Naruto from view finally figured it out just as Hellboy turned around. "On second thought, why not go back to the kitchen and see if they have any more doughnuts!"

"Huh? what was that Liz?" Hellboy frowned, "Hey, Brat, Share some grub, will yah?!" growled Hellboy as he walked around the others and over to the couch. There a slight pause as Hellboy took in the sight of Naruto wolfing, or in this case, foxing, down all the food as fast as he could with a wide eyed expression. "Wow, you sure got a big breakfast there, kiddo...wait a minute, that's _MY _breakfast!" snarled Hellboy as Naruto leapt away with a plate full of food and his milk. "Who the hell told you that you could eat my breakfast?! Who gave it to you, you little shit!" growled Hellboy as he chased after the nimble youth.

At this point, Naruto was very glad that he was a ninja, and well trained in the art of evasion. "I found it! It belongs to me!" the foxy blond shouted, precariously balancing on the back of a chair. "You're worse then Choji, fatass!"

"Who the hell you calling fat, shrimp!" The red demon lunged at the chair, missing Naruto by a scant inch.

"Fat, stupid, _and _slow, Ogre-teme."

"I'll kill you!"

"Just try it!"

Now, naturally, the others new better then to get involved in a fight over food between a wild animal and a demon with anger management problems, so while the two were busy running around, the others settled in to watch. It was quite surprising that they didn't destroy anything. Mannings, however, did not seem to be amused when he came in a few minutes later to see Naruto perched on top of a bookshelf flinging bits of sausage at Hellboy who was trying to reach his tail, which was tantalizingly just out of reach. As yet another piece of sausage bounced off Hellboy's horn Mannings shouted.

"What is going on here?" The two looked at him with identical looks of rebellion. "This is not a zoo! You, Hellboy, should know better! This is not your personal playground, despite what you might think. I'd also expect you to teach your little friend here better!"

"He's not my friend!" the two chorused.

"Enough of these shenanigans. Get your asses over here and SIT DOWN!" Mannings howled, ignoring the outburst.

When Naruto and Hellboy stormed over to the others, Abe quickly made room for his best friend. As for Naruto, the Professor reached out and pulled him onto the seat next to him, "It's so good to see you two getting along," Bruttenholm dryly stated. "Now if we can get down to business."

_**

* * *

Kitsune here. I've ended this chapter a little shorter then I was planning on, but I figured the talk about Naruto's origins would kill some of the fun from this chapter. (it is going to be dry-er.) Anyway, sorry for the long break between updates, I had about a page done before last semesters finals, but then I had to study. And then during the break my grandmother, whom I lived with during the summers all my life, passed away. So I waited till I got back to school.**_

_**I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and as always thanks to those of you who added it to your faves/alerts and/or reviewed. Questions and suggestions welcome, so please review.**_


	7. Sad, Happy, and Confused

Naruto glanced around nervously, ears twitching. Everyone was staring at him, apparently waiting for him to start talking. That in itself was weird, even back in Konohona, he usually had to talk over people, even friends, to be heard. Not that really had any problem with that, or with being the center of attention for that matter. With a determined nod of his head Naruto turned towards Kate, "So how do I get home?"

"Well, we'll get to that Naruto, but first I need to know exactly how you got here, so I'll be able to figure out how to reverse it." Kate explained, pulling out a notebook.

"But I don't know how I got here," whined the teen.

With an understanding smile Kate explained, "Is completely normal for you to not know how, it's my job to figure it out. But in order to do that I need to know as much as you can tell me about where you're from, and what happened right before you found yourself in Tokyo."

"Oh." Slowly a grin appeared on his face, "So I get to talk about me?"

"That's what she said you idiot!" snarled Hellboy, still angry about the breakfast.

"Shut up, teme!"

"Make me!"

"Oh yeah, that was real mature, HB," snapped Liz, "shut up and let the kid talk."

"HA!" Naruto snorted before turning back to Kate, "I was going for a walk, 'cause Sasuke still hasn't come back, and actually, he'd pulled a sword on me last time. I knew I shouldn't leave the village alone, 'cause well, Atsuki and all that, but I didn't want Sakura-chan to worry so I left without saying anything. I would have told Sai, but he has a big mouth. And then I ran into Sasuke-teme, except it wasn't Sasuke, it was Itachi, but I didn't know that at the time, so I followed him but then Kissame hit me on the back of the head. Kyuubi was all mad and afraid that we were going to die so he made me use is powers and the statue broke I think... then I woke up naked on the floor." He looked expectantly at Kate, "so how do I get home?"

Everyone was just staring at him with the slightly glazed look of information overload. Kate had written down some of the more important things, but it was about as clear as mud. "Maybe you should start at the very beginning," Buttenholm suggested, "For example, who are Sasuke, Sakura, Sai, Itachi and Kisame?"

Naruto blinked at them, pulling on the fur at his tail, "If I tell you, you can't tell ANYONE else, ok? Tsunade-baa-chan would be mad if she found out I was talking about the village to outsiders."

Buttenholm patted the teens head, "What you say won't leave this room, you have my word."

After a few minutes of getting his thoughts in order and listening for anyone who wasn't supposed to be there, Naruto began, "Well, see, a long time ago the Fist Hokage, except he wasn't Hokage then..." he noticed the blank looks, "oh, you don't know what a Hokage is. It's the strongest Ninja in the village. I'm going to be Hokage one day. Well anyway, One day he decided to start a village with some other Ninja and so he created 'the village hidden in the leaves' in the land of Fire..."

Kate furiously started taking notes as over the next few hours Naruto showed that even though he had spent most of his time at the academy goofing off, he really had been paying attention. He covered everything, from the creation of the village, the different clans, nin-jitsu tai-jitsu and gen-jitsu (ok, so Sakura had re-taught him all that) the wars, even about the Kyuubi attack. He then went into great detail about his growing up, mentioning all about what had been going on recently, Sasuke's betrayal, Gaara's kidnapping, the fight with Orochimaru, the fights with Atsuki, finding Sasuke, losing Sasuke...

"and so I was going for a walk..." he concluded.

For a minute there was dead silence. "So, what you're telling us is that you're a ninja?" Mannings asked.

"Yep." Naruto nodded.

"How old are you again?"

"16, going on 17. I've been a ninja for about 5 years." Naruto explained, knowing exactly what Mannings was getting at. "I've been training since I was 5."

"But you're just a kid!"

"Mannings, it wasn't that unusual for children to be apprenticed at age five and start working by 12 or 13 a little over a century ago. Don't act so surprised." Kate snorted, exasperated. "Ok Naruto, from what I can gather, your from an alternate level 3 dimension, with para-anomaly integration."

"Huh?"

"It looks like the twos Atsuki groups where both doing a ritual involving the manifestation of the Kyuubi's power, and when Kyuubi fought back, it created a rift, which you fell into."

"Sure, that sounds right...I guess."

"So all we have to do is find a weak spot in the dimensional fabric, hope that someone is thinking about you, and push you threw."

"Wait a minute..." Hellboy interrupted, "That's it? No voodoo spell-casting, no saintly charms? Just a hope and a shove?"

"Well, it is a little more complex then that, but yes, that's basically it. The hard part will be finding the weak spot."

"So, I get to go home, right? I'm not stuck here forever?" shouted Naruto, voicing his biggest fear. Being Naruto, he wasn't letting on that he was very much afraid of being stuck here, and letting down his precious people, who were probably worry sick. However, his ears gave him away. He defiantly looked like a little lost puppy, which had the predictable effect of causing the women to become very teary-eyed.

"Oh, no, of course not honey, we'll get you back." sniffed Kate, trying very hard not to hug-and gush. Liz nodded emphatically, she for one just sat on her hands.

The blond had no clue why they were acting like that, of course, so he just flashed him his signature grin, "That's great!" he jumped up tummy rumbling, "I'm gonna go get some more food now!" he laughed, running out of the room.

"Hey! Wait!" snarled Hellboy, jumping up as well, "That's my food! Bad Fox. NO! SIT! SIT damn you!" Naruto was long gone, however, mad-ninja skills at work. With a grumble Hellboy headed for the kitchen, hoping to get at least some food.

Naruto himself was just a little short of the kitchen when he doubled over in agony. His stomach felt like it was on fire. Chakra welled around the teen, burning the walls. With a whimper he crouched on the floor and desperately pushed against the Kyuubi's power.

"No! I won't let you…it's my body, damnit!" he whispered, fighting with all his willpower. Suddenly just as it began, the pain stopped. Naruto's heart thudded away in his chest, he _knew_ that his attempts to quell the Kyuubi had nothing to do with it. The Kyuubi had gotten stronger, and he could swear he heard the demonic fox laughing. Slowly re rose, "Damn you, fox…." He muttered, he decided at once that this was not something the others needed to know. With a sigh, Naruto continued heading to the kitchen in a more subdued manor. After all Hellboy's lunch was still there for the taking.

"Huh. That looked bad." Hellboy sighed putting away his gun as Naruto turned down the hall. When he was sure the boy was out of sight he left his hiding spot and walked over where Naruto had been crouched, glowing. It was then he noticed the scorch marks on the walls. "Well, that can't be good. Guess I should tell Kate…" as he turned to do so, he suddenly remembered where the fox-boy was headed, "Oh no, MY LUNCH!" and decided telling Kate could wait. After all, the kid was annoying, stole his food, and was a potential danger, but he was also kind of fun to have around. Telling Kate could just cause problems. It might not have been anything, just bad gas or something, right?

* * *

**Kitsune here, Let's see, got the new chap up, though I should be doing HW stuff...Anyway, I've uploaded the new non fanfic story I'm working on on under the same name (Kitsune Foxfire) and on my deviantart account which you can find on my profile. That's my plug.**

**Ok, about this chap, I personally like it, and I'd say it's the half-way point. Feel free to ask questions or whatnot, though I may not answer. Hope you like it. **


	8. Crowded, Loud, and Fun

_Three weeks after the meeting_

"Why is it that anytime a dimensional rift forms I end up being surrounded by weirdoes?" Grumbled Hellboy as another pre-pubescent teen shoved past him as he stood like a stone in the flow of human bodies.

Liz snickered somewhere to his left, "So says the epitome of normalcy."

"Hey, I've got no choice about who I am, but these little freaky kids do."

Naruto, who was trying to shrink into oblivion behind everyone pointed, "There not all kids..." right behind the group was a thirty-something year old man in a mini-skirt, sailor shirt and long blond wig. The costume was quite a few sizes to small, causing Naruto to shudder.

"Now, why'd you have to go and point that out? I could have lived my life without that image burned into my brain, brat." Hellboy turned to Abe, "Which way to the rift?"

"Well, at least we blend in." Abe turned away from the large group in front of him who were all wearing identical costumes to consult the very confusing map.

"_Fit in?_ On what planet?"

Abe ignored him, "I think we go left down the hallway and then two rooms down."

"Um, Abe? there's no Hallway to the left." pointed out Liz.

Abe naturally looked, "Oh. I see." he consulted the map again.

"Are you sure it's not upside-down?"

"I'm sure, see? We're here, we left Kate over by the concession stand," he tapped the red dot, " and we're under the Welcome sign right here." Everyone just stared at the map, "This is quite confusing. Ancient text is easier to decipher."

"Which is probably why Kate left you to figure it out." Liz pointed out, wondering idly is she should have gone with Kate to get some food for everyone.

Naruto finally piped up, "I thought you said this was going to be easy, teme, you told me this Baltimore village was simple..."

"Yeah, well, I wasn't expecting us to come in the middle of _This_!" Hellboy shot back, waving his arm to indicate everything around him.

"Um, excuse me, sir," interrupted a woman with blue hair and fairy wings, "Can I take your picture? That's the best _Hellboy_ costume I've seen today! Did you make it yourself or did you commission it?"

"Huh? you want to take my picture?" Hellboy, rant lost, looked over at Abe, who shrugged, Liz was just laughing.

"Please? Sorry to bother you." the girl noticed Abe, "OH! how cool! Can you both be in it?"

Liz interrupted before the two could say no, "Why don't you stand with them, and I'll take the picture, right guys?"

"That would be great!" After a minute of posing, with Naruto laughing at the looks on Hellboy's and Abe's faces in the background, Liz snapped off the picture. "Thanyousomuch!" The girl smiled, disappearing into the swarm of people.

"We should have asked her to read the map for us..." a dazed Abe muttered as the group wandered off to find Kate, and see if she could read the map. As it turns out, she couldn't, and she did _not_ recommend the hotdogs.

"So you're telling me we paid fifty dollars to get in here and now we're lost?"

"Well..."

"Hey, kid, cool costume, you an OC?" Interrupted a group of teens coming over and eyeing Naruto's twitching ears and tail.

"Um...what's an OC?" The fox-boy looked down at his red-black-orange cammo shorts and his matching zip-up jacket which mostly covered the black tank. "am I an OC?" he asked Abe.

"Original Character," answered Liz, much to everyone's surprise, "What? I play WOW." She turned to the teens, "Yeah, he's an OC from this forum RPG my cousin Kate runs." she nodded to the guys, "We made them come with us." She lied, "They're not really into this stuff." She ruffled Naruto's hair, "and my little cousin here is just starting to get into it."

"With those costumes?" one of the teens asked, "Good job for N00bs."

Liz laughed, "Well, corporate jobs pay big, and they lost a bet, so they had to come in costume."

"Not bad at all, I see quality latex, real leather, and animatronics. Sweet." He gave Hellboy, Abe and Naruto thumbs up, "So, this is your fist con huh?"

"Yeah, we heard Otakon was the best for new fans, but we're really confused."

"Information overload, huh?" another teen shook her head sympathetically, "it happens to the best of us."

Kate interrupted, "Yeah, we wanted to go see the showing of," She consulted the schedule, "_Witchblade ,_and then go to the debate on Subs vs. Dubs, but we can't seem to find the rooms..." she shrugged.

"Ah, yes, the map is confusing. We just came from the 11:45 showing of Witchblade actually. But the next showing is in another room, let's see..." one of the teens leaned over the map, "Here it is, unless they moved it" he pointed to it.

Hellboy snorted, "Thanks. that helps."

The teens just laughed. Finally the one who had first spoken to them said, "Go down the escalator, put the door to the left, cross the street, re-enter the building, go down the stairs and your there." he looked at the map, "and the debate is through that walk-way, all the way at the end of the hall." he handed the map back, "any other things you're looking for?"

"Um, Dealers room?" Kate asked shyly. "I wanted to look for a Kimono for my costume."

"All the way right hand corner, follow the crowd from there. Before we let you on your way, can we get a picture?"

After the group had taken some pictures the group headed out, "Ok, so the rift is in the room _Witchblade_ is in, though there is another smaller one in Sub/Dub. Both rooms look like they'll be full for a while, so We'll hit the dealers room, then try the rooms. should be empty at that point," Kate explained, outlining the plan.

"Dealers room?"

"I do happen to want a Kimono. and you didn't bring one back." she snapped at Hellboy, "and this way, Naruto can get some souvenirs for his friends back home.

"Can I get real shoes?" whined Naruto, scuffing his military-grade boots on the ground, "these things hurt."

"what makes you think they'll have shoes?" Sighed Hellboy, "Fine, we'll look, but don't get your hoped up.

Two hours and a hundred pictures later the group made their way over to the _Witchblade _room. Naruto was practically dancing in his pair of ninja shoes, which he had found next to the Kimono stand. Everyone had managed to find something in the dealer's room, which had gone a long way towards shutting Hellboy up. Abe had even won something on the _GaiaOnine_ wheel, surprising everyone, since they didn't know he even had an account.

"So what's the plan?" asked Liz after the group had discreetly entered the empty room.

"Well, We go over to where the rift is the weakest, which is right over by the screen, and then we all concentrate on getting Naruto home and shove him into it."

"Sounds a little Hooky to me." muttered Hellboy, "but if it works, it works."

"I just hope we don't send him to _Witchblade_ land" pointed out Abe.

"Knock it off, you're making him nervous." growled Liz.

Naruto just looked at them wide eyed, "I really really hope this works the way it's supposed to." he tugged on his tail, "and I hope I lose this on the way. No way Sakura-chan's going to want to go out with me if I have a tail!" Naruto continued to gripe as everyone got ready, forming a half-circle around Naruto with Hellboy right behind him to give him the shove-off.

"You ready, Kid?"

"Yeah. I guess so."

"Ok, here we go."

Just as Hellboy was about to shove, Naruto interrupted, "Teme?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna miss you guys. It was kind of fun."

"Yeah, it was. I know Liz and Kate will miss you. Mannings, not so much." He went to shove Naruto again.

"What about you, Ogre-man?"

"What?"

"Will you miss me?"

"If you'd stop calling me that, yes."

"Oh. ok." Hellboy's hand pressed against Naruto's back, "What about Ero-Oger?"

"Would you knock it off already?!" snarled Hellboy while the others grinned, "can we just get on with this?"

"Ok Ok..."

Naruto held completely still thinking really hard about how he wanted to be home, and what his village looked like as he felt Hellboy's stone hand press up against him. The blond took a deep breath preparing for the shove, only to gasp in pain as the Kyuubi's power slammed into him. "NO!"

"What is it this time?!" Hellboy shouted back just before the Kyuubi's fiery chakra poured out of Naruto and whipped around his stone hand, "Oh."

The chakra hissed as it scorched his –thankfully- stone hand, holding tight. Suddenly Naruto tipped forward as a great breeze filled the room. In seconds he had vanished from sight, pulled through the rift. The chakra, however hadn't, and was still holding onto Hellboy's arm.

"This can't be good." grumbled Hellboy. He was dragged towards the rift, his arm vanishing into it, "Yeah. Not good."

"Hellboy!" Abe latched onto his friends arm just as Hellboy's head went through the rift.

"ABE! LET GO!" Liz grabbed Abe's belt as he too was pulled though.

"LIZ!" Kate quickly grabbed Liz's trailing foot, realizing at the same time that it wouldn't really help, and only end with her going into the portal as well.

With a sound between a snap and a hiss, the rift caved in on itself, leaving the room empty.

_**

* * *

Kitune here. This is the last chapter for a while. The Naruto manga is so bad right now I can't get the inspiration I need to write. Stupid Uchiha battle, If I wanted to know about Sasuke, I'd read a manga called Sasuke, not Naruto!!! So...**_

_**Anywho, yay new chap. Um. So yeah, they were at Otakon, lol, anyone who's been there knows the map is confusing, and then things change rooms, and you get lost. In this realm there is no naruto, so Naruto couldn't cosplay as himself. more's the pity.**_

_**And everyone is now in Naru-land. what will happen next? Wait and see. Sorry to punish you all for my current dislike of the manga, but that's how it goes.**_


	9. memories, friendship, and sadness

Obito was gone, Rin was gone, Sasuke was gone, and now Naruto was gone. Kakashi was starting to feel more than a little paranoid. Granted, Tsunade's and Jiraiya were feeling the same way at the moment, as they kept losing people to. A small part of him almost felt bad for Sakura for all the attention she was getting now. But that part as so tiny it swallowed up in guilt and grief that he didn't even realize it was there. It hadn't been so bad, when Naruto first disappeared, yes, he had worried, but there had been no _panic_ really, Naruto as a good ninja, and he'd just come back from a rough mission. Naturally, he'd want some alone time. So no one had worried, not really.

But then, he didn't come back. A whole day, and there was no sign of Naruto, not at the ramen shop, not on the monument, the training grounds, even the surrounding forest. He just…vanished. There was a mutter or two from the council about Naruto becoming a missing nin, but even they didn't seem convinced, but it was better than the alternative.

Just Twenty-four hours after Naruto had gone for a 'walk' the search parties from Leaf and Sand were out looking for the Akatsuki. Five days later, they found them; or at least, some of them, where they had taken Gaara. It was not pretty. The two members they had found had been ripped up and then crushed when boulders from the decrepit roof of the cave collapsed. It was amazing that any of the reconstructed ceiling was still up by the time Kakashi had arrived with the rest of team seven.

Even then, he had had hope, they all had, really. Who couldn't? It was obvious that the Kyuubi's chakra had been too much for the Akatsuki to handle. The whole cave reeked of demon-fox after all, and there were the remains of two members. They were all sure they'd find Naruto nearby in need of help, since the bodies were only hours old. That wasn't what they found, however. What they did find was Naruto's Hai-ate, half buried under the remains of a statue in the middle of the cave. The band was no longer black, but deep red, as were the rocks and the mud around it. Even Kakashi, who was no medical Nin, had no need to look at Sakura for confirmation; there was just too much blood. He just held her as she screamed for her friend.

When they hadn't found his body, it had almost been a relief. On the one hand, it would have been more than any of them could have handled to see his body mangled. On the other, it meant the either Akatsukitook it, or that the Kyuubi's chakra burned it to ash. Gaara accompanied the group back to Konohana with his siblings, despite his council's protest. After much debate, Jiarira went ahead, after all someone had to tell those left behind in the search, the hope they would have felt, seeing the whole group come in, would have been unbearable for the 'rescue' party to face. The funeral wasn't a big affair, though many people attended, but that was how his friends in Konohana whished it. For them, mourning would have to wait, revenge took precedence.

* * *

Sasuke heard of Naruto's fate a week after the funeral after crossing the Naruto Bridge. He had been thinking about both the mission he had been on a child all those years ago, and of course, revenge on his bother. His new team had known better then to interrupt, but mostly, Suigetsu was swinging his new sword and keeping the others distracted. It was Karin who saw the sign.

"_Naruto Bridge, dedicated in memory of Uzumaki Naruto. Friend, Ninja, Hero. May your memory live on._" She adjusted her glasses, "Huh, that's odd, isn't it Sasuke-kun? This bridge is dedicated to someone who has the same name as that boy on your old team…Hey!" Karin yelped as Sasuke pushed her roughly out of the way to read the inscription himself.

"This has got to be a trick. I saw him a few weeks ago, he was his normal dumb self…" the normally stoic Sasuke muttered, heading towards the house he had stayed in during the mission. He knew it was a lie, since Naruto was Naruto after all. If Orochimaru couldn't kill him, hell _Sasuke_ had even failed to do that, than he was sure nothing short of the end of the world would. It was one of his constants, like fan-girls and revenge. Life was simple for Sasuke, he'd kill Itachi, revive the clan, maybe start his own village since he was still a missing Nin…and eventually, Naruto would catch up, they'd fight while Sakura yelled at them, and maybe, just maybe, Sasuke would allow Naruto to buy him ramen to smooth over their friendship, and Naruto's ego, when Sasuke beat him.

One look at Inari's face, so much like his had been when he had lost his family, and he had known it was true, no questions asked. His revenge on Itatchi would be tenfold for ruining his plans.

* * *

"Kakashi-sensi, can't we keep going?"

"No, Sakura, we need to take a rest," the silver haired joinin said for what felt like the hundredth time. "I'm just as eager to catch them, you know that. But it would do us no good to push ourselves to the point of collapse finding them. We would lose."

"I know, Kakashi-sensi, but…"

"Sakura-chan, I understand what you are saying," interrupted Sai, "I as well hate the thought of those people breathing after what they did, but Kakashi is right." Sai settled in t lean against a tree and pulled out his sketchbook. The last dozen or so pages were filled with Naruto. Sai was afraid of forgetting his friend's face, like he had forgotten his brothers.

Sakura sighed in defeat as she looked around at the group she was in. It consisted of Sai, Kakashi, Yamato, and Neji. There were a few other leaf-nin groups out there, consisting of the rest of the rookie teams, their sensei's, Jiraiya and Tsunade's. Gaara was also reported to be out with quite a few sand ninja. It made her very happy to think about that. Naruto would have been touched….and there was _no way_ Akatsukiwas going to survive.

"Kakashi- sensei," started Neji, " We have been on the move for weeks now, is it possible that the others beat us to them?"

Kakashi was silent for a moment, "No, I don't think so. Atsuki's got to know we're on to them, so I bet they're in hiding again. Remember, they were never very easy to track to begin with." He sighed, "No, we'll find them soon. I'd be a little worried about Jiraiya, but the others are about where we are. Get some rest team."

Hours later Yamato sensed something in the woods and signaled the others. Silently, the group prepared for attack. The group was hopeful that it was Itachi, since they'd been trailing him for a while, albeit unsuccessfully, but at this point, they would have settled with any Akatsuki member. They were greatly surprised by the appearance of Jugo, who, from the standpoint of the group, was a strange looking tall fellow, who they'd never run into before. His was immediately classified as an enemy, as he came out swinging. Before the Team Revenge 1 (Sai's idea) could attack in return, Suigetsu jumped out of the woods as well.

"You Jack-ass! We're not supposed to attack _them_. Jeeze. Now our fucking cover is blown." He snarled, standing between his large friend and the leaf ninjas. "And what the fuck was with that attack? That was stupid, what are you some stupid Whiny-bitch? Karin could have done better, and she's a who..." Karin came out of nowhere and clocked him one upside the head.

"I'm a what?"

"A stupid Whore." She hit him again. Harder. "OW! OW! Nock it off already, you crazy bitch!"

Meanwhile, the leaf ninjas were just staring at these three in total disbelief. Not only where they fighting amongst themselves, they seemed to have forgotten that the others were even there. Normally, they would have taken advantage of this fact, but, honestly, they were just to confused. A second ago they had been under attack, and now they were being ignored.

"This is really weird, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura muttered, "They move like trained ninja, but they're behavior…"

"Keep your guard up, Sakura." Came the reply.

Neji whispered, "There's one more in the trees. This might just be a distraction."

"Can you tell who it is?"

"No, they're very good at hiding."

"So, what's the plan, Kakashi-san?" Yamato asked, "Do we try and take down these three, or to we wait for the one in the trees?"

"Might I suggest silencing these ninja? They are giving away our position."

"Sai's got a point," Neji added, "we can not ignore that, even if this is a type of trap."

"Right. Sai, on my mark, you, Sakura and I will go after these three. Sakura, focus on the big one. Yamato, you and Neji are best at long range. Go after the guy in the trees. NOW!"

Just as Team Revenge 1 sprang into action, the ninja hidden in the trees cam out. All were very surprised to see it was none other then Sasuke.

"Can't you guys even follow simple directions? I said stay hidden!" He snarled at Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo. The three of them looked contrite, though Karin's was a fawning apology. "Kakashi-sensi, Sakura" he nodded to his old team members, "Sai, Neji, Captan Yamato. Sorry about that." He didn't sound sorry at all, "I suggest we all forget that this happened." He turned to leave, the rest of team snake in tow.

"What exactly," called Kakashi, "did happen?"

Sasuke paused, "Our camps were close together. We thought you were perhaps Itachi. You obviously are not. So we will be going."

Sakura was torn, she was happy to see Sasuke well, and obviously snake free, but at the same time, she was very sad. She owed it to her fallen comrade to bring Sasuke home, but she had to get revenge. She wondered, briefly, if this was the way Sasuke felt. Then she wondered why Sasuke assumed they would just let him go. It was possible, and she felt a pang in her heart at this, that he thought Naruto was lurking in the woods to ambush him. Just before her old teammate vanished into the forest she called out to him.

"Sasuke! Wait a second!" He paused, but didn't turn to look at her. "You should….come back to the village." Tears formed in her eyes, "Naruto….he….he wanted you to…you should at least come and say goodbye!" she cried, unable to voice the truth. "He'd've wanted to know you were all right." She finished in a whisper.

"Sakura," Sasuke said, still not turning, "I cannot go back till I've killed Itachi."

"Sasuke," interrupted Kakashi, "there's something you should know…"

Sasuke sighed, "I know that Naruto isn't waiting in the woods for me to try an ambush." The group gasped, "Itachi will pay for that, I swear. But first, I need to _find_ him." He turned finally to look at his old team. "I will say my goodbyes after that." He said, tactfully stating he'd return home.

"You're not the only ones searching for Itachi," Neji warned, "If we find him first, _We'll _ get _Our _revenge."

"Then I better find him first." Replied Sasuke before disappearing.

After a moment of silence Sai was the first to speek, "Well, that went well."

The very next day Team Revenge 1 was in for a shock. They were once again looking or Itachi when they felt a strange chakra burst nearby. Naturally, the group went to investigate. Neji confirmed that there were five people near the site of the chakra explosion, and it wasn't one of their teams. With speed only a ninja could pull off, the group raced towards the spot. Arriving, they saw only two of the five people at first. One was tall-ish, slender, and had dark hair. The other was taller, blue-green, and had a decidedly fishy face.

"Kissame!" Snarled Kakashi, seeing red.

* * *

_**Kitsune here with some info. Ok, this is part filler, but its important that you know what's been going on while Naruto has been gone. Its not as detailed as it could have been, but thats a whole separate story, and I wasn't in the mood for too much depressing stuff. The next chapter is done, and I'll upload it in a few days. I'm not sure I'm happy with the ending of it. We're maybe 3 chapters away from the end (I hope). Anyway, please review. Keep in mind that this is at heart a Crack-fic when you review. Suggestions welcome, as is constructive crit.  
**_


	10. Fighting, yelling, and flying

Kakashi charged out of the woods, all thoughts of tactics blown away. With an animalistic snarl, he threw himself at the man he now considered a mortal enemy.

"KISSAME!"

* * *

Abe was a bit dazed. His head was buzzing just a bit as he stood up. It was obvious to him he was no longer at the anime convention. Upon further thought, it probably hadn't been a good idea to Hellboy's belt. Thinking that, he took a good look around. There were tall trees everywhere, at least as tall as the giant redwoods. Underneath the behemoth trees, there was moderate amounts of shrubs and grasses.. Abe turned to ask Naruto if they were in his home dimension, only to notice Naruto wasn't in site. In fact, the only person he could see was Liz, and she looked as confused as he did. He wasn't too worried, given the size of the trees and the shrubs, as well as what he knew about dimensional travel, the others were probably really close by, just out of site.

"Liz," Abe started, turning to his friend, "are you alright?"

"Yeah, Abe, I'm….ABE BEHIND YOU!" The shout came just in time for Abe to doge to the side and avoid the attack of a silver-haired man who was dressed in a strange outfit.

"KISSAME!" the attacker shouted, "I'll kill you!" He lunged again, lightly cutting Abe with a knife as he tried to get out of the way.

"I'm not this Kissame person!" Yelped Abe, barely avoiding another attack.

"Abe, DUCK!" Snapped Liz as she flung a fireball at the attacker, only to have him doge it. Before she should get another off, she found herself face to face with a pink-haired teen.

"ITACHI! You'll pay for what you did to Naruto-kun!" the pink-haired girl yelled as she threw a punch. Liz thankfully managed to dodge.

"I'm not Itachi! I swear! I'm LIZ! LIZ!"

"Liar! Is that how you caught him? You pretended to be someone else, you slime?!"

Both fights stopped however when Hellboy came flying out from behind some shrubs and skidded to a stop a short way away. With a groan, Hellboy pushed himself up with his massive stone hand. "When you two are done playing with the locals, can I get some help? I've got one pissed of kid over here." He puffed as he ran back into the shrubs.

Everyone had been surprised when Kakashi had given away they're position in a wild attack on Kissame. They had been less surprised when Sakura had followed her Sensei and confronted the fire-wielding Itachi-under-genjitsu. The genjitsu explained why they had been unable to find their targets. The others had stayed hidden in case they were needed. Yamato was sure they would be, since the two Atsuki members appeared to be just playing with Kakashi and Sakura. After all, the two were just dodging the attacks, probably trying to wear out the vengeful pair.

Everyone was shocked into immobility however when a large red man had gone flying from the bushes a little ways away. He was terrifying in a way that many Ninja strove for. His fire-red skin glowed in the sun. The massive stone hand looked like a more-ten formidable weapon. The horns tail and cloven hooves defiantly put the ninja in mind of the demons. They were very confused when the man did not join in the fight, but instead ran back towards the bushes, saying something about a kid. The looks on Itachi and Kissame were interesting as well, they looked very worried.

Even after the big red man had left, the fighting did not immediately resume. Everyone could hear quite clearly the angry roar coming from the bushes followed by a shout and a thud. Walking very carefully, watching the Ninja intently, Itachi and Kissame made towards the bushes. The leaf ninja let them; they were interested to know what was going on behind those bushes that would have those two worried.

* * *

Hellboy was regretting not having mentioned the glow-y fire thing Naruto had done back at the department. It was possible if he had mentioned it, Naruto would not be out of control right now. Kate yelling at him to do something was not helping any. Now, he was no expert, but he was reasonably sure that the Kuuybi Naruto kept saying was trapped inside of him was a little less then trapped. The glowing eyes and smoking, bleeding body were kind of big hints. In fact, Naruto looked just like he had when Hellboy had first met him.

"Come on, kid, snap out of it! I don't want to have to hurt you!" Snaped Hellboy as re returned from his trip through the bushes. Demon-Naruto was not intristed in chatting however. He roared and slammed an elongated tail into Hellboy, sending him flying again. Luckly, a tree got in his way, and he didn't go far. "Would you knock that off? Jeeze, Kate, how am I supposed to stop him if I can't get near him?"

"I don't know, try reasoning with him!" called Kate from behind a tree.

"In case you haven't noticed, he's not in a reasoning mood."

'Hellboy!" came a shout as Liz and Abe ran to his side, "What's going on….oh shit."

"I do believe that this could be a problem."

"Ya think, Abe? What gave it away?"

"TAIL!" Liz called as the three ducked at a tail came at them head level. "Hellboy, I know this is a bad time to mention this, but the locals are not happy to see us." She ran to Naruto's left and lit a fire, distracting the boy.

"Good thing you took care of them then, right Liz?" Called Hellboy, taking advantage of the opening and rushing Naruto.

"Actually….." Liz started as Abe started throwing rocks at Kuuybi-Naruto from behind, earning a tail slap.

Hellboy finally made it over to the poor boy and wacked him hard on the head, causing him to drop like a stone. "Wow, that was easier then I was expecting…" he looked up at Liz, "Actually what? I don't like the sound of that."

Just then Sakura burst from the trees where she had watched the last few minutes of the fight, "YOU BASTARDS!" she screamed, throwing Kunai at them. "It wasn't enough to kill him? You had to do this to his body?"

"What are you talking about?" Growled Hellboy, "who did we kill? We just got here, Lady." His case, however, wasn't helped any by the fact that he was holding a uncoicous Naruto who was still looking possessed. At that moment the rest of the group came down from trees.

"Give us the boy's body," Yamato said, "and we'll go easy on you."

Hellboy snorted, "Now why would I do that? You're lying."

"Your right, I was lying." Yamato tried again, pulling out what he hoped was a trump card, "How about this, give us the body, and I'll give you back your friend." A clone came out from behind a tree, holding Kate at Kunai point.

"Sorry, Hellboy. He came out of nowhere."

"Ooo, that's low." Liz hissed.

"What do you think I should do, Abe?"

"Normally, I'd say listen to them, and get the kid back later, but, since I doubt they'll let us go…"

"Shut up, Kissame!" snapped Kakashi.

"Kissame, huh?" chucked Hellboy, "Man, you must look an awful a lot alike this guy, Abe."

"I almost wonder if he's your twin. Evil twin, of course." added Liz.

"Itachi, just give us back Naruto." called Sakura, "please!"

"Itachi? Who's that?"

"Liz, apparently," supplied Abe.

At this point, Naruto reverted to normal. Or at least, he turned back into a teen with ears and a tail. This time, at least his cloths were still there. "Hey,' Hellboy shook Naruto, "Wake up, kid." He whispered.

"Kakashi-sensei," Neji whispered, "the chakra-paths are working in Naruto…"

"So they're using him as a puppet then," Kakashi whispered back grimly. "Enough wasting time, give us Naruto!"

The word "No" was barely out of Hellboy's mouth before he and his friends were rushed by the five leaf ninja. Hellboy was forced to drop Naruto in order to defend himself. Durring the fight, Sakura stopped and leaned over Naruto's prone form.

"Naruto-kun, what have they done to you?" she whispered, tearing up. Just as she was about to pick him up and move his body to a safer location his eyelids fluttered open and she found herself looking into his sky-blue eyes. They were dull, holding no recognition of her, confirming Kakashi's suspicion, and breaking her heart. Suddenly, he blinked, his eyes clearing.

"Sakura-chan?"

* * *

_**Kitsune again. So, now Leaf knows Naruto is alive! or at least, Sakura does. I know Sai and Neji don't do much, but Sai is there for a reason, and Neji was needed to spot the group. Yamato is there just because I thought he should be. Deal with it...Poor Abe, keeps on being confused with someone else! Next chapter will be a while, got to start on my Final Papers. poor me. but hey, a chapter and a half in one day, not bad (1/2last chap and this one were done on the same day) Please R&R. A big thanks to my three reviewers (WeevilOne, Icegoddess52, and **__**T. E. Rankin)**__** on the last chap, your the reason this one goes up so fast. and T. E. Rankin, thanks for pointing that error out. I'm such a ditz when it comes to spelling. I'll try and work on the next chapter soonish, so the cliffie shouldn't be too horrible. 3 weeks at the latest, I do have 2 papers to do this week, and one next weekend, so...I'll try.**_


	11. Talking, Crying, and beliving

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto muttered, insure if he was dreaming or not. The last thing he remembered was walking around the anime convention with Hellboy and the others. Everything after that was just…blank.

"Naruto…?" Sakura whispered, reaching a hand out to delicately touch his cheek.

"Now, Naruto wasn't an idiot (or at least, he didn't think so), so he was pretty sure he was sleeping. After all, the chances of him waking up with the love of half his life gently touching his cheek were slim. Particularly if said girl was Sakura. She never cried for him, and here she was tearing up. So he did what he always did in such a dream. He tried to steal a kiss.

"Sakura-chan…" he reached up and put his hand on her cheek, "I love waking up to your beautiful face…" Before she could react to that, he sat up a bit and kissed her. "even if you have a bad temper and monster strength."

"Naruto!!" That got her attention. She swung her fist where his head had been a second ago. This, of course, got everyone else's attention. The fighting, which Naruto had been oblivious to, ceased.

So everyone was treated to a sight that had become common in Konohana, Naruto running away from Sakura. For just a moment, it was as if nothing had changed. Naruto skirted around his friends and took refuge with the one person he was sure could handle Sakura's punches.

"Hey, Brat! Would you get off me?"

"Oh no! Sakura-chan's going to kill me if I get down."

"Hellboy growled, "And I'm going to kill you if you don't!"

"Bully!"

"Little Demon!"

"Uh, boys, now isn't the time," interrupted Liz, "Naruto, are these people friends of yours?"

For the first time, Naruto noticed their audience, "Oh, hi Kakashi-sensi! Yamoto-tacho, you're here too?" he clamored onto Hellboy's shoulders, "Ah!? Neji and Sai are here too?"

"What tricks are you pulling now, Itachi?" snarled Kakashi.

"Eh?! Itachi? Where?" Yelped Naruto, reaching for the Kunai pouch he didn't have.

"It seems," Abe interjected, "They think Liz is Itachi."

"Naruto looked at Liz, and promptly face-faulted off Hellboy, laughing. "Why…ha…would…hehe…I be with….Itachi?" he gasped out between chuckles.

"Naruto," Sai began before Kakashi could start, "I/m not sure how to tell you this, but, you're dead."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are." insisted Sai, "You left the village one night three months ago and never came back." Sakura started to cry, "We…We followed your trail o the cave by the water."

Naruto pouted, "Itachi got the jump on me, Bastard."

"You died there."

"No, I didn't."

'I didn't know you were dead, kit." laughed Hellboy.

"I'm NOT dead!"

"Then how do you explain all that blood?" snapped Kakashi.

"I don't know," Naruto grumbled, "How do you explain me being here if I'm dead?"

"You're a puppet, like Sasori used, nothing more."

The blond shuddered, "Liar. I don't feel dead."

"Naruto," Kakashi tried again, "You're dead."

"Stupid."

Yamato was finding it a bit weird to be arguing with a corpse. He leaned in and whispered to Kakashi, "Genjitsu?" Kakashi nodded and began the hand seals. "Naruto, they did to you what they did to Gaara."

"And he's still alive."

"A woman gave her life to bring him back."

"I'm alive, damnit!"

"Dispel!" nothing happened.

"You thought I was an illusion?"

"Well, you do have fox ears…" Yamao said.

"Don't forget the tail." interjected Hellboy.

"That's NOT my fault. Kyuubi did that…"his ears drooped. "And whose side are you on anyway?" he growled at Hellboy.

"If you're not dead," Neji started.

"I'm NOT."

"and you're not an illusion, then where'd you go?"

"Another dimension."

Neji just stared at him.

"No, really!"

"That's why you've been missing?"

"Yes." Everyone of Naruto's old friends looked at him with disbelief in their eyes. "Come on, where else would I find someone like Him?" he pointed to Hellboy.

"Another village."

"Sakura-chan, you believe me? Right?" Naruto whined, "You know, I'm really me, right? Sai? Come on, you know me, guys!"

"Kakashi-sensi, I think it really is Naruto…"

"Yes, I think it is the dickless wonder as well."

"SAI! You bastard!" Naruto snarled, lunging for his friend only to be stopped when Hellboy grabbed his tail.

"Hey, I like that name for ya, kiddo."

"Stupid ogre!"

"Hey!"

Kakashi sighed, "Let's just assume for a second that your right."

"YEAH!"

"I'm not done speaking yet. How do you expect to prove that you really are Naruto, and that these….people….aren't really Akatsuki in disguise?"

"I could tell you how the next _Come Come Paradise_ book ends!" Naruto shouted, his tail wagging. Then it stopped, "Oh. Jiraiya could have put the book out already."

"He stopped righting after you died…er… disappeared." Sai interjected. "But we would need him here to confirm it."

"Well," Hellboy said, "That could be a little bit of a problem. Any clue where we could find this guy?"

Kakashi and Yamato looked at Hellboy. It was obvious they were trying to measure him up and get an idea of exactly how much they could share. Finally realizing that they were at an impasse unless they were willing to trust these strangers a little, and very hopeful that the fox-Naruto was telling the truth, they decided to share.

"He went after the Akatsuki," Yamato explained, "He and Tsunade wanted revenge. If we hurry, we should be able to catch up to him before he reaches them."

"Yamato-ticho, are you sure that's a wise idea?" asked Neji, "what if they are with Akatsuki?"

"Then he'll have his revenge." Kakashi shrugged. "I can't think of anything better to do. Besides, we should be able to handle this small group on our own."

"Don't you love it when people talk about you like you aren't even there?" griped Liz.

"Um," Naruto started, "these guys aren't ninja. I'm not sure how well they'll be able to keep up." Everyone looked at him suspiciously. "What? I just thought I'd share."

"The brat's right." Hellboy sighed, "Kate's going to slow us down some."

"HEY!" grumbled Kate, "I'm not that bad."

"Sure. Keep telling yourself that." He turned to the others, "I'll carry Kate. Kid, you carry Liz. And Liz, no paying with his ears, got that?" Liz blushed.

"And I'll have to ask for a lift, unfortunately." Abe said. "You, man with the silver hair, Kakshi, was it? You obviously don't trust me, so would you carry me? That way, if I do anything, you can deal with it immediately."

"Fine." Kakashi agreed. It only took a few seconds for the group to get going, With Naruto up in the trees with everyone else, and Hellboy keeping up pretty well on the ground.

* * *

**Authors Note:**

**Ok, sorry this took so long, I have 5 pages done, and then I got really busy. College is over now, though! There are probably spelling errors, so if you see any let me know and I'll fix it. As for why Hellboy can keep up, switching dimensions does weird things, Like language switches. Since almost everyone in the Naru-verse is fast, and Hellboy is a trained fighter, he's gained some speed. That's my excuse. Mostly, he's too big to carry. Any other Q's feel free to ask. I've got to run.**


	12. cringing, yelling, and hugging

Kate was quite fascinated by the forest that was zipping past. It reminded her of a strange cross of a primeval forest and the pine barrens of New Jersey a bit. She wasn't really sure how that was though. She was also finding it weird that Hellboy was able to keep up with the 'ninja' who were zipping through the trees like monkeys on speed. She had to admit the gravity didn't feel any different, and after seeing Naruto bounce around the department, she really shouldn't be surprised. It was still impressive though.

"I guess they really do train from a young age…." She muttered.

With a grunt, Hellboy responded, "What was that Kate?"

"Nothing." She waited until he had cleared a particularly nasty looking bush before shouting up to the others, "Are we getting close?"

"It is hard to tell," replied Sai, "but he should have felt your arrival, like we did, and so we should be close."

"Is this Jiraiya an important person, then?" Abe asked.

Kakashi sighed, "He was one of Naruto's teachers, after me. And he's one of the strongest ninja in the village."

"So, You were one of his teachers as well? How can you not know it is him then?" Abe asked quietly, so as not to be overheard by the others. Abe wasn't really interested in the answer so much as in something to distract him from his discomfort. He had never been one for piggy-back rides, let alone one through the trees.

"Look, it doesn't matter if I think that _that_ really is Naruto or not. Naruto _died._ No one could have survived that, not even him."

"It sounds like you don't believe that the boy is Naruto." Abe sighed, "I'm sure that disappoints our young friend."

"Of course it does!" Kakashi snarled as he jumped to a particularly difficult branch, speeding up to get ahead of the others. "it means the disguise isn't perfect!"

There was a pause, "what did you mean by 'not even him'?"

Kakashi sighed, "I'm going to assume you're not Kisame, because he would have known this." Kakashi sighed, going even a little faster. "Naruto, _our_ Naruto, had the Kyuubi within him. It caused a lot of problems for the kid growing up." He paused, " It also gave him superb healing."

"I see."

Kakashi gave Abe a sharp look from over his shoulder. He grinned grimly, "let me put it this way, someone once punched a hole in his chest, broke all his ribs, and crushed his lungs and his heart."

"Ouch. And he survived?"

"He didn't just survive; he made a full recovery in a matter of _days._ We found out later that the person had also broken his neck at one point during the fight. He recovered from that almost instantly."

"And yet you don't think he could survive this other attack." Abe sighed. He felt for his young friend. Naruto had been so eager to come home, worried about his friends, and now they didn't even believe it was him.

"Another thing, Naruto would never have waited so long to come back to us." Kakashi added. He wasn't sure if it was for Abe's benefit or for his own. He knew that this couldn't really be Naruto, but yet, part of him hoped it was. Ok, it was more than just a part, and Kakashi knew when that hope was crushed for the others and him, it would be like Naruto died all over again. What's worse, they would be expected to eliminate the imposter. "And don't try telling me he was in another dimension this whole time. That would never stopped the Naruto I know."

"I'd like to point out that it didn't stop him. He's here now."

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto called, "When we get back to Konohanna, will you treat me to ramen?" Kakashi just grunted. Natuto sighed, his ears drooping. Liz had to stop herself from playing with them. "He doesn't think I'm me."

"Oh, that can't be true!" Liz interjected.

"No, it's true. They all think I'm the enemy." He sighed, "not that I can really blame them. I don't look like I used to, and apparently the place where I….where I left, was pretty bad." He sighed again. "I hope Jiraiya believes me."

"I'm sure he will." She hugged Naruto, trying to comfort him.

Naruto avoided the trunk of the tree he was passing with a little side spring from another branch, "Liz, I think I should warn you."

"About what?"

"If I can't convince Jiraiya of who I am,"

"You will, I'm sure of it."

"If I can't, they're going to try and kill me." Liz went cold, "Possibly you guys as well."

"I thought they were your friends! Why would they do that?"

"Because, if I'm not who I say I am, then I'm an enemy Ninja impersonating a Leaf ninja. Or, as Kakashi said earlier, I'm dead, and being controlled by someone else." Naruto sighed, "either way, I'm a danger to the village, and I will be killed."



"Well, that sucks."

"Yeah" Naruto's ears suddenly swiveled up, and to the left. "Kakashi-sensei! On your left!" He called, speeding up to reach his former teacher. When he caught up he continued, "I hear someone on your left. It could be him."

"Or it could be someone who wants to rip you to pieces," Hellboy called up as they turned towards the left.

"Actually, either way, it could be someone who wants to rip him to pieces." added Abe.

Hellboy laughed, "good point. I'm sure that this guy is going to trilled to see us. Especially if we can't prove who the brat is. Hey, Liz! If this guy goes for Naruto before we can explain, Torch him."

"Somehow, I don't think that's going to stop him." Kate pointed out from her spot of Hellboy's back.

"Of course it won't stop him, but it should slow him down enough to let us explain." Hellboy pointed out, as he charged though a bush and came face to face with another person.

"Oh, good."

Standing before them was a tall man with long white hair. Hellboy didn't have time to register much else before a Kunai came flying at him, which he blocked with his stone-like arm. Just then, the others, minus Naruto, jumped down from the trees. Naruto had stayed behind out of shame. Jiraiya was like a grandfather to him, and it hurt him to think that he wouldn't recognize him, or worse (in Naruto's mind at least), he'd be angry at Naruto for excepting Kyuubi's help. "Wait Jiraiya!" Kakashi called out. "They're not enemies," he muttered, "at least not yet."

Jiraiya just looked at them all. He was decidedly taken back by the tall red….man that had nearly collided with him. Not to mention Kisame was getting off Kakashi's back. Ok, Kisame didn't look as healthy as he had the last time they had met. He supposed he should be more concerned about that. But, he just assumed Kakashi had brought him so he either A) could betray Atsuki, or B) be killed by the two of them together. Or possibly both. He was more distracted by to blond woman who was sliding off the red man's back. She was quite attractive, in a no-nonsense kind of way. And what's this? Another beauty came out from the woods. A dark haired beauty in a skin tight outfit, and a dangerous air._ Where's a pad when I need one? I should take notes for the next Come Come…._suddenly the happy feeling Jiraiya had been having at the sight at such attractive women evaporated. If he hadn't been off taking notes at the bathhouse that night, Naruto might still be alive. He had known the lad had been upset, he should have gone with him….

"Jiraiya," Kakashi interrupted his train of thought, "there's something we need to talk about." It was then that Jiraiya noticed the strained looks on Kakashi, Yamato, Sakura, Sai, and Neji. Something was wrong.

"Is Itachi dead already?"

"We don't know…we're here about something else."

"Well, what is it?" Jiraiya snapped, once again in a bad mood.

"Hey, Kit, this isn't going so well," Hellboy called over his shoulder into the woods. Jiraiya's head snapped around. He hadn't sensed anyone else in the woods, but now that his attention was drawn to it, there was defiantly someone there. "I think you better get out here."

Jiraiya armed himself as the branches rustled above him. He kept his gaze fixed on the figure that dropped out of the trees to land right behind the black haired beauty. For a second, he got the impression of golden blond hair, and his heart lurched.

Kakashi grabbed Jiraiya's shoulder, "Listen, we found these people in the woods," he explained quickly, "They were with someone else, someone claiming to be Naruto."

Jiraiya turned and looked at him, blood rushing in his ears, "But that's impossible! Naruto is dead."

"I know, but this…person, really thinks he is Naruto. It wasn't a genjutsu. Also, he looks a bit like Naruto, but there are some differences. So we were thinking, you spent the most time with Naruto, and you should be able to tell if he is a fake."

"Of course he's going to be a fake!" Jiraiya snarled, "You most of all should be able to realize that. He's gone!" He turned to where the imposter was taking refuge behind the woman. "Come out of hiding right now, you insolent cur! I'll teach you not to make light of people's grief!" He howled, charging Liz and Naruto, who was cringing behind her.

Liz, expecting this, even though it was still a bit of a shock, tossed a firewall at him. It slowed him only for a micro-second, and suddenly he was on her. Jiraiya roughly shoved Liz to the side, revealing a huddled, miserable fox-Naruto. It almost made Jiraiya pause, so, instead of killing the imposter instantly he roughly grabbed the youth by the front of his shirt and lifted the unresisting boy off the ground.

Completely ignoring Liz pounding on his back he shoved his face right into his captives, "Tell me who you are!" Naruto cringed, tail tucked between his legs and ears flat against his skull. He refused to make eye contact. Angered, Jiraiya shook him. "Tell me!"

Naruto looked into his eyes before scrunching his shut, "Uzamaki Naruto."

Jiraiya shook him again, "What was that?" his voice was dangerously low.

"I'm Uzamaki Naruto." Naruto gulped. His teacher smacked him upside the head.

"Liar! Uzamaki is dead. Who are you?" Jiraiya growled, "tell me the truth, or I'll kill you right now."

"Stop it! Can't you see he's already terrified?!" cried Liz, punching his back. She whorled and faced the others, "Do something!" Sakura looked away. She and the others knew that Jiraiya would be able to tell 

the truth. But if they interfered he might attack them in his rage. Instead, she and the others prevented the others from going to the young man's aid. "Let go of him!"

"Shut up, woman!" Jiraiya snapped, shoving her away without even looking. He glared into Naruto's eyes, "Don't lie to me, boy. Who are you."

Naruto shuddered. He was hurt beyond belief that Jiraiya had not believed him. He was also ashamed for making his master hurt so badly. He decided, no matter what, he was probably going to die, there was no way he could convince Jiraiya that he was who he said he was. But there was no reason for the others to suffer. Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes and looked into his mentor's eyes. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, of the village hidden in the leaves. I graduated the academy dead last, was on a team with Sakura and Sasuke, lead by Kakashi. I fought Sasuke to stop him from going to Orochimaru…."

"Everyone knows that about Naruto. STOP LIEING TO ME!"

Naruto continued in a rush, "I held the Kyuubi in me. One night I went out alone and got jumped by Itachi and Kisame, they took me to the Akatsuki and they….they hurt me really bad. Kyuubi started to fight them and I let him out. I'm sorry, Ero-sene, I know I shouldn't have. When I woke up, I was somewhere far away, and I looked like this. These people helped me find my way back." Jiraiya raised a fist, "I swear that's the truth! I don't mean to hurt you! But if you don't believe me, please, just let the others go! They had nothing to do with this. Please, do what you want with me, but let my friends go." Naruto begged, tears running down his face.

Jiraiya paused. He didn't believe this kid, but there was something about what he had said… snorting in disgust, he dropped the fox-boy onto the hard earth. Liz immediately ran over and shielded Naruto with her body. "Boy, do you understand what I'm going to do to you? I am going to do everything within my power to _make_ you tell me who you are, and how you know what you do. And when I'm done? I'm going to kill you. Slowly. Is that clear?"

"How dare you threaten him!" snarled Liz, "Lay one hand on him, and I'll barbeque your ass you sick old man!" She turned to Naruto, "It's ok, we won't let them hurt you. We'll…we'll just take you back with us. Yeah. I'm sure the professer wouldn't mind, Right Hellboy?"

"You got that right, Liz," Hellboy grumbled, "No way we're leaving you here with these nuts, kiddo."

"No." Naruto shook his head, looking absolutely miserable. Catching a leaf that drifted down from a tree he continued, "They'll kill you if you tried to leave with me. Thank you, guys, but I'll stay, if I do, they should let you go." He looked at Jiraiya for conformation. Jiraiya really didn't want to let them go, but he was more interested in getting answers from the slimeball pretending to be Naruto. Besides, they could hunt the others down later. He nodded. "See? You guys will be fine. I may be 'fake', but at least my presence can geruntee your safty."

"Naruto, no! We can't leave you!"

"Don't call him that!" Jiraiya snarled, dragging her away from him, "Go now, before I change my mind." He reached down and grabbed Naruto's arm, hauling the unresisting boy to his feet as the others 'encouraged' the rest of Hellboy's group to leave. "Revenge can wait till we get you back to the village."

_Oh, I'm so dead. Dead dead dead dead. _"It's ok, Liz, I'm ok with this. It's my way of the Ninja."

The leaf ninja paused. Jiraiya turned towards him, the expression in his eyes unreadable. "What did you say?"

"It's my way of the Ninja." Naruto responded, confused, "You know, doing what you can for your teammates, even if it means sacrificing yourself. I know you said it was stupid to think that, and yeah, Sasuke betrayed me again and again, but these guys aren't like him, so that makes it ok, right Ero-seni?"

"I see. I thought maybe you had read that in one of my books." Jiraiya replied, watching the blond carefully.

"I don't remember that being in any of your books. Unless you changed the plot of the newest one after I left. I thought it was supposed to be about two friends fighting over the love of a beautiful woman, and in the end, she has a sister, and everyone is happy…"

"Actually, it was a cousin."

"I still think a sister would make the story better." Naruto grinned, "just think….twins." Naruto held out his hand and opened it, revealing a leaf cut in two. Jiraiya grinned back, tears streaming down his face, as he pulled Naruto in for a hug. Then he hit Naruto on the head.

"Where the hell have you been?"

"OW! Another dimension. Something weird happened…Kate knows the details, and I ended up with them." Naruto hugged the white haired man again, "I'm sorry. Really I am. I should have stayed in the village, but I was just so angry! And I'm really really sorry I let Kyuubi out, and that I look like this, and that you thought I was dead…."

Jiraiya sighed, and rubbed his head, "Enough. I should be apologizing for thinking you were an imposter." He looked over his shoulder where everyone was standing there, staring at them. "It's all right, let them be, it really _is_ Naruto." He hell Naruto out at arm's length, "though I'm not sure where the ear's and the tail came from. Kyuubi?" Naruto's ears drooped. "We'll try and fix that later." He said as Naruto suddenly disappeared from in front of him as Sakura slammed into him, knocking him over.

"Naruto! It's you! I missed you so much, you idiot!" She wacked him, "Don't you ever do that to me again!"

"Sakura-chan, let him up," Kakashi sighed, "helping Naruto to his feet. "It's good to see you again." He said as he hugged the teen.

Yamato reached out and ruffled his head, "you little idiot, you couldn't mention the book first?"

"I uh…."

"This is Naruto we're talking about," Neji mock-sneered, "He's stupid, remember? He probably forgot." Naruto smiled at him, and exchanged a highfive.

"Naruto-kun, you look very cute with those ears." Sai added, "May I draw you later? I have an entire notebook for you. Though, I don't know if I should add the ears to all the pictures."

"Uh, Sai, that's kind of creepy." Naruto pointed out, shaking his hand.

"So, that's it?" Hellboy asked. "First, they're going to kill you, and now you're all chummy again, because you knew about a _book?_ Am I missing something?"

Jiraiya turned and looked at him incredulously, "Not just any book, sir! The next Come Come Paradise, written by yours truly!"

"Uh huh. And that means?"

"Jiraiya hasn't even gotten past the note phase for it," Kakashi cut his author-idol off, "the only two who would know about the plot are him and Naruto." He said quietly, "He stopped writing it after Naruto…vanished."

"Why?"

"Because, if I had not been off taking notes for it, if I had been with my student like I should have been, this wouldn't have happened."

"That's not true!" Naruto shouted, "I knew better then to go out alone. This was all my fault."

"Actually," Kate said, coming to join the group, "wouldn't it be the fault of the people who grabbed you?" She turned to the others, "Hi, I'm Kate, this is Liz, Hellboy, and Abe."

Jiraiya looked critically at Abe, "Abe, has anyone ever told you you bare a striking resemblance to Kisame?" Naruto started to snicker.

As Hellboy wacked Naruto in the back of the head Abe replied, "Yes, I've been told that."

Jiraiya grinned, "I see." He glanced at the sky, already darkening as the sun sunk below the horizon, "Well, it's getting late. How about we all set camp and you guys tell us about what actually happened? We can head back to Konohana in the morning."

* * *

**Kitsune here. Well, another chapter comes to the end. Naruto really should have mentioned the book a lot sooner. This isn't to say there are not going to be other problems with people thinking he's a fake. Also, we still need to take care of Akatsuki. To explain what Naruto was so cowardly confronting Jiraiya, he really respects him, and the idea that Jiraiya would not know him, or worse, think he was a **

**traitor or be disappointed in him really hurts Naruto. And of course, he wouldn't fight back against his friends or teacher, since that would only prove he was an enemy (or at least, that's what he thinks.) Ok, I'll try and do the next chapter semi-soon.**


	13. chocolate, marshmallows, and gramcracker

The fire crackled merrily in the late night while the group swapped information. The Leaf Ninja were fascinated by their new allies, and the tale of how they had met Naruto had been met with a lot of respect. Jiraiya, who was practically sitting on top of Naruto, was busy quizzing Liz and Kate about what women were like on the other side. Naruto was pretty sure he was trying to plan a trip over there. What to do about Naruto's partial fusion with the Kyuubi was left for later.

"Naruto-kun, may I feel your tail?"

Naruto shuddered, "That just sounds wrong coming from you, Sai."

"Then, may I have some of the hairs for a new brush? I read that friends share momentos."

"NO! That's just really creepy." Naruto cringed, laughing all the same. It felt good to be with his friends again. Slyly he looked over at Jiraiya, wondering if he should tell him about his conversation with his less-than-nice tenant. With a sigh, he decided that now was not the time to point out that the stupid fox was breaking free any may kill Naruto any moment and take over his body. Ok, so he didn't have proof that it would kill him, but….well, the fox was a little less then forgiving.

"…..new cloths?" finished Sakura, looking at Naruto.

"Huh? Sorry, Sakura-chan, I missed that."

"Geez, you'd think with those ears you'd be able to hear a flea. I asked where'd you gotten your new cloths."

"Oh, the proffesser gave me some money and I went shopping with Kate and Liz." Naruto's face lit up, "the store was huge! And Sakura! I rode inside a metal bird called an 'Airplane' way up in the sky! And they have these things called 'Cars' that can go faster than I can run! And everyone has one!"

"No way!" Sakura 'lightly' punched him in the arm, "Quit making things up, you idiot!"

"Actually," Interjected Kate without looking up from the notebook Jiraiya had lent her in which she was taking notes, "he's not lying. Our dimension is very different from yours. For example, other than a few people like Liz, no one can do any magic, or 'jitsu'. But our technology is accessible almost all people. It's very lucky that we were the ones to find Naruto, in fact. If anyone else had they probably would have shot him dead and then dissected his body."

"Naruto's a ninja. He may be called a Genin, but he's defiantly one of the strongest in his generation in our village. I doubt he would have been in any real danger."

"Thanks Kakashi-sensi!"



"We have guns that fire hundreds of rounds a second back home. And there's a lot of them. The brat's fast, but, getting shot like that would probably even stop _me_." Hellboy grinned, "Naruto wouldn't stand a chance."

"Speaking of you, forgive my bluntness, but what exactly are you?" Yamato asked.

"Me?" Hellboy feigned surprise, "Just you're average Joe, doin UPH!" Liz punched him in the side, "You know, one day that might actually _hurt_, Sparky."

"And one day, you might grow a brain. He's a demon, plain and simple."

The leaf ninja just blinked at them.

"Wait, like the Kyuubi? You're a Jinchuuriki like Naruto?"

"No. I'm more like the thing inside Naruto. Except a lot better looking." He winked at Liz.

"Hellboy came to our world much like Naruto did. He was pulled through a dimensional rift by the Nazi's in an attempt to destroy the world during World War 2. It ended badly for them and the Professor took Hellboy, who was just a baby at the time, in. So, he's one of the good guys now."

There was silence. "world war…?"

"Basically, the nation he is with teamed up with other nations to fight these three nations that wanted to wipe out everyone. So his Nations sent out their best Ninja villages to stop them. Then, the enemy Nin tried to call a demon to win the war, were attacked by the other ninja, and were defeated, but they had called the demon already. Since it was small, and harmless, they took it in to their village." Naruto explained.

"Oh."

"Harmless? Who are you calling harmless, kit?"

"You, stupid Ogre!"

Kakashi saw the fight beginning and intervened, "so, Abe is a demon as well?"

"Actually," Abe answered, "We're not exactly sure _what_ I am." He shrugged. "I was found in a underground lab."

"…..ok then."

"Don't let it worry you. Things like Hellboy and I are a bit of a rarity back home."



"I see." Jiraiya sighed, "Well, we best turn in for the evening. We have a long trip tomorrow if we're going to make it back to the village. I think that would really be our best option for now, we can continue the attack on Itachi and the other's later."

"Good, because I'm exhausted!" cried Naruto. "G'night!" with that, the intrepid blond flopped over and was almost instantly asleep.

"Poor kid, it's been rough on him, trying to get back, you know?" Liz pointed out, "He's just warn himself out."

"That, or it could be the jumping dimensions and turning into a monster." Hellboy countered.

"What?"

"Oh, that. Well, He kind of lost in on the way here and turned into Kyuubi, either that, or he was really, really pissed."

Jiraiya looked worried, so Kate explained, "It's to be expected. He was pulled through the first time mostly through the Kyuubi's energy. So the fact that he became the Kyuubi, or at least partially, isn't all that surprising. I think it's best we don't tell Naruto, however. He seems to think he just blacked out, and I'd like to keep it that way."

"Of course." Jiraiya agreed while the others nodded.

* * *

_Naruto was in that creepy leaky hallway. Some part of him noticed that the water level was much higher than it should have been. It was waist deep now, and very cold. How odd that it was cold…he heard a laugh in front of him. Quickly he looked down at his reflection, remembering the Kyuubi was trapped in these waters._

'_It's just me'… he sighed, looking into the blue eyes of his reflection. No sign of the red he had seen in the Kyuubi's eyes. With a bit of a shiver, he walked on, not sure where he was going. The laughter sounded again, and Naruto's head whipped down. 'Kill, Kill, Kill, KIL! Kill them all!' Laughed his reflection._

_Naruto pulled back in fright, 'NO!'_

' _Kill Akatsuki! Kill them for what they did!' The reflection continued. _

'_Ok, well, yeah, I kind of want to kill them…'_

' _Kill the leaf ninja!'_

' _What!? NO! They're my friends!'_

' _We have no friends, We died…' chuckled the fox, smiling back with Naruto's face._

'_No! We, I! I have friends! What are you playing at you stupid fox?!' The fox just chuckled as the dream-that-was-not-a-dream faded into a nightmare of his time with the Akatsuki._

* * *

The group broke camp at dawn. Jiraiya watched Naruto as he bustled around the camp, only half awake. He knew that normally Sakura would have hit him when he accidently knocked over her hot tea. It was nice to see the others happy. Not relaxed, because they all knew what awaited at the village, and there was still the little matter of killing some missing nin, but happy. He smiled as Kakashi finally got tired of herding Naruto away from the remnants of the fire and made him go sit. The two mentors shared a look. _Ah, so he saw it too._ Jiraiya muttered to himself. A few hours ago he had awoken to a strange sound. Only a foot away Naruto had been curled into a ball, shaking badly and whimpering. He wasn't sure what Naruto had been dreaming, but it must have been one hell of a nightmare. _More than likely he was reliving what happened. I heard the site was…bad. But, to see Naruto so shaken, it must have been worse than I thought._

* * *

**Kitsune here, Another long-awaited chapter. Sorry. So, the gang is on the way to the leaf village (I keep wanting to type Leafe like Leafe Knights from Pretear) And they still need to run into Sasuke at some point. Next chapter is Leaf village, and maybe 2 chapters after that. I hope you will keep with me. And sorry again for the wait. BTW, I'm going to start the new Bleaching Darkness chapter now. And, for all you FMA fans….there's talk of a new FMA series! Lol, I'm not starting anything new until I finish one of these darn stories.**


	14. Spills, yelling, and gags

It took the better part of a day to reach Konohana. It was decided that just showing up and announcing that Naruto was alive, if changed, and had brought friends from another dimension was not the best idea. So, instead, the plan was to go and see Tsunade and explain things to her. Kakashi suggested that they tell the ninja guarding the gate that their companions were defectors from akatsuki with vital information for the Hokage.

Now, Naruto was less than thrilled about all this. See, he had been envisioning his triumphant return for quite some time, and it did not include sneaking around. Mostly, it involved ramen. Defiantly no sneaking. This being the case Jiraiya opted to gag his student. Needless to say the two ninja at the gate found the group generally distasteful, and the one member fully cloaked with his hood up, obscuring his face completely very suspicious. Particularly the strange grunts he was making.

Hellboy ruffled Naruto's covered head with his right hand, "Don't mind my little friend here, he's got a bit of a cold." The demon smiled, "it's nothing to worry about. Now, if you'll excuse us, we've got an organization of psychos to betray."

"er. Yes. Kakashi, Yamato and I shall take them up to see the Hokage right away." Jiraiya started, "you kids go get some rest, we'll be leaving tomorrow I'll bet." He told the younger ninja of the group, knowing that they'd meet up with them at Tsunade's office. In the mean time, he hoped Sakura would be able to get some Ramen for his stupid student. And perhaps some Sake for him. It was going to be a long trip, particularly with Naruto's morbid desire to see his own grave. He was also not looking forward to the confrontation with Tsunade. He had not delusions about how she was going to take this. Things would be broken, and it was his feverant hope that bones were not among the list. Naruto, of course, was just looking forward to seeing her. As far as the blond was concerned, the hard part was over.

There was also the little problem of walking though a village that contained a surprising number of people who wanted akatsuki and anyone associated with them dead. And most of those people were _very_ good at making people disappear. Obviously, it was a very tense walk to the Hokage's office. Kakashi was being very cautious as well. It looked like the three ninja were guarding their 'guests', but in reality all of them were protecting Naruto. Or preventing him from running ahead and giving himself away, it really depended on who you asked, and when you did. Obviously, they were all very stressed out when they reached the doors.

"Would you let Tsunade know we're here?" Jiraiya politely ordered the guards. He was sure that Shizune would be with his old friend, and equally sure that there was no way she would leave. So, he wasn't surprised when the younger woman opened the door and gave him a look that just dared him to try. "Ah, Shizune, I assume from your look that the reason behind this visit has already reached you."

"Yes." She glared at Hellboy, "I think you should have just killed them."

"Pleasant as always, Shizune. Let's take this inside, shall we?"

"What a firecracker, eh, Liz?" laughed Hellboy as he followed Jiraiya into the room.

"You're a real ass sometimes, you know that, Red?" sighed Liz as she draped an arm across Naruto's shoulders and followed him in.

"This village is very interesting. A fascinating mixture of high tech and low tech. I could spend years studying this place…" Muttered Kate, taking notes.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself Kate, you'll make our new friends nervous," Abe quipped taking up the rear of his little group, only to be followed by Kakashi (reading a book) and Yamato who shut the door behind them.

"I may have agreed to meet with you people, but let me make one thing clear; Konohana does not make _friends_ with traitors." Tsunade snapped, slamming her hand on her desk and causing a number of important documents to fly off. "So share your information on that…_horrible _that _child murdering!_...pathetic excuse of an organization and if it's any good, _maybe_ I'll let you live."

Hellboy whistled, "You sure are a tough old bitch, ain't ya?"

She developed a vein as her eye twitched, "What-Did-You-Call-Me?" she growled as Naruto, who was more than confidant that Tsunade could and would send Hellboy flying though the building slipped out of Liz's grip.

"You heard me all right." Hellboy grinned, vaguely wondering why Jiraiya had backed over to the wall by the window with Kakashi and Yamato. "I called you a tough ol…" Naruto quickly scurried onto Hellboy's back and clamped a hand over his friends mouth.

"SHSSSSSH!" He hissed through his gag as Hellboy pried the boys fingers away from his mouth only to get poked in the eye.

"OW! Would you get the fuck off me?!" He tugged at the boy, "Do I look like a jungle gym to you, dumbass?" He pulled harder only to discover that Naruto was now latched onto his hair (and his jacket….and shirt…and oddly enough, his left toe was tangled in Hellboy's underwear, making them both very uncomfortable) "You little shit! I was just pointing out that for an old broad she's got a lot going for her!" He tried again to pull the boy off but the cloak Naruto was wearing made it hard. He was so distracted in fact that he barely managed to block Tsunade's punch with his stone arm. He looked down at her, temporarily forgetting Naruto. "Owww! That actually almost hurt!"

"Who are you calling an old broad you Jackass!"

"Was that even a question?" Abe muttered to Liz as they wisely pulled Kate out of the way.

"What?! It was a complement! And you! Get the hell off me already, you're choking me!" Hellboy snapped, yanking as hard as he could on the cloak.

"How the hell is that a….." a loud ripping noise cut Tsunade off mid rant as Hellboy's fist cam down awfully close to her head trailing a long swath of kaki colored fabric formally known as a cloak.

Hellboy looked at his hand dumbly as Naruto smashed his fist into the back of his head. "oops." He waited for the explosion from the blond bombshell in front of him. They had decided to gradually ease the idea of Naruto being alive before the big reveal to prevent another fight, but now…

The door behind Hellboy opened and Sakura and Sai walked in, carrying Ramen. "I take it things did not go as planned?" Sai grinned as he shut the door.

"You could say that…" Kate muttered just as the room became very busy.

Without so much as a knock door slammed open again, strait into Sai and Sakura to reveal an out of breath _angry_ Iruka. They in turn spilled all the ramen they were carrying. Most of it on the floor, but a good amount on Hellboy. He proceeded to jump up and down as the scalding food burned his tail as Naruto, still clinging to him ripped off the gag and wailed "My Ramen!" while Tsuande had to be caught by Jiraiya when she swooned for the first, and most defiantly the last, time.

After a few minutes of pandemonium and random shouting, Tsunade had finally had enough, "SHUT UP!" There was dead silence. "YOU!" She pointed at Iruka, "What are you here and not teaching your class?"

"I heard some akatsuki members defected with some information, and I…" He fumed, unable to articulate his intense desire to kill them. "Those bastards killed Naruto! All of them should die!"

"Iruka-sensi…" gasped Sakura, surprised by his rage.

"Understood." Tsunade nodded before rounding on her next victims, "You two, why are you here?"

Sai smiled, "We brought food."

"Fine." She poked Hellboy in the chest, "And you?"

"I don't suppose you'd believe I'm defecting from an evil child-killing organization with my friends anymore, huh?"

"No. Not when Naruto is clinging to your back like that."

"Er. Yeah. About that…" Hellboy knew better then to go into an explanation on temporal-whacha ma-call-it's and one glance over at Kate and Liz told him they'd be no help. Both of them were misty eyed and pulling out the tissues. Even Abe looked a bit sentimental. So instead he did the next best thing. He reached up with his stone hand and grabbed Naruto's neck, causing the fox-boy to go limp and pulled him over his shoulder. "Special delivery." He said, holding the boy up like a lost puppy.

"_NARUTO!"_ Tsunade sobbed, clutching him to her ample bosom in a crushing hug. "My poor baby! What did they do to you?"

"Ahh the mothering instinct." Jiraiya sniffed as the others who had been waiting for this reunion nodded.

"Can't…Breath!" whimpered Naruto, his tail wagging none the less.

"Where the hell have you been?!" Tsunade shouted suddenly thwaping him on the head. "You had me worried sick! And poor Iruka! Do you have any idea what you put us though?"

"Na-Naruto, is that really you?" Iruka cried, coming up behind the boy and joining in the hug.

"Gahk! Air…need air…!"

Finally Tsunade left Naruto in the slightly-less-deadly-hug of Iruka and shook her finger at Jiraiya. "_YOU!"_

"Eep. Er." Jiraiya cringed as he moved to put the desk between them. "Honestly, I had no clue!" He bumped into Shizune, who looked equally pissed at him. "I swear! We ran into them in the woods! Ok, well, not _me_, specifically, but Kakashi and them!" He gulped, babbling, "_I_ didn't know anything about this! I thought he was a fake, god-damn it!"

"How could you think he was a fake, you horrible old man?" Snapped Shizune.

"Uh, Hello? He's got a tail. And fox ears!"

"Jerk!"

"Jiraiya, if you laid one finger on him…" Naruto's stomach growled loudly.

"Ramen…" he sniffed, eyeing the still damp ground.

Tsunade laughed, "All right all right, we'll order some ramen. And while we eat, you people can explain exactly what is going on.

**Kitsune here. Gah. I am so done. This chapter was a lot of fun to write, but I really don't want to type up another recap. There should be one chapter left. It's going to be a very busy one, and probably a bit long, maybe even a little rushed. I am sorry if it is, but honestly, this was only supposed to be 4 chapters long to begin with, and now…Well. I'm supposed to work with a friend on a fanfic with him on Zoids after this one, and I'm thinking about a D.gray-man one, or doing an Original work…And Now I do have a temp job…**

**So, inspiration for this chapter came from the Book "Good Omens" as well as the wonderful wonderful Deviant artist Nekoni. I wish I could draw so well. Also, the new anime Casshern sins may had had some influence… So, please R&R, and thanks again for reading.**


	15. friends, books, and cloaks

"Aw, come on Tsunade-baachan! I just want to go over to my apartment and get some new cloths!"

"Not on your life Naruto!" Tsunade snapped, "I will not have you going out into the village looking like that! You'd cause a panic, and you know it. Iruka will go and pick up your cloths." She sighed, turning her attention back to the chart in front of her. She and Naruto were currently camped out in her office. The others had all dispersed; the ninja to prepare for their next mission, Shizuni was busy sending messages to all the other search teams telling them all to stand by. As for her unexpected guests, well, she was pleasantly surprised to see how well they managed to disappear to explore the village. Not a single report had come in of people sighting them.

That just left her and Naruto. During their meal it had been decided that Naruto and the others, including Hellboy, would join the search for Atsuki. Thanks to Jiayria's solo search, they now had a pretty good idea where to find them. While they were off taking care of Atsuki, and hopefully figuring out how they had managed to send Naruto across dimensions, she and Shizuni would be trying to figure out how to reverse Naruto's… condition. She sighed again, glancing up at Naruto. He had given up his argument about leaving, and had turned his attention to a comic book he had brought with him from the other world. It still made her heart swell to see him alive and well, if a bit changed. She had to admit the fox ears and tail were absolutely adorable, even if they would have to go. A small smile flickered across her lips as she watched Naruto read his comic, his ears perked up and the tip of his tail gently waving back and forth. In typical Naruto fashion, he was completely absorbed in his new amusement, oblivious to the world around him.

Tsunade gave a small shake of her head and went back to looking over the chart. She was relieved to see that all Naruto's vitals looked good, but she should see the inconstancies caused by the Kyuubi's contamination. She flipped to the second page, reacting to a gut instinct; she had run the same tests at the end of his exam, a few hours later. It was a good thing that Naruto was a bit of an idiot, he didn't even realize the tests were run twice. For the most part, the tests had the same results, which she was relieved to see. After all, it would have been very odd and worrisome if his vitals were different after only a few hours. However, the tests on his chakra were troubling. The differences were slight, so slight that if she wasn't looking for them, she probably would have passed it off as normal discrepancies, but it was there. The Kyuubi's chakra was growing stronger, even while Naruto was not drawing on it.

While Naruto had been catching up with Iruka, Hellboy had told her some troubling things. Things like fiery red energy leaking out of Naruto and scorching the walls, or Naruto changing right before he went into the portal. That, combined with what she was seeing on the paper, had he very worried for Naruto. It was completely possible that she had just gotten him back from the dead, only to lose him to the demon trapped within him. Tsunade shook her head. There was no way she was going to let that happen to Naruto. She was one of the best medical ninja of all time, and she'd be damned if she was going to lose another one of her important people.

Not twice, anyway.

"Naruto, go to bed, already." She grumbled.

"Can't. Not done with the book."

"As soon as you're done," She was answered by a huff, "that's an order. Unless you don't want to go on the mission tomorrow."

"Fine." Naruto sighed, flipping to the next page.

* * *

Naruto, once again in a cloak, stretched as hard as he could while waiting for the others at the gate. For a change he had slept deeply, no visions of destruction, or unwanted conversations with a certain unwanted tenant. He smiled over at Sakura, warranting a dirty look from the guards at the gate. "Gesh, what's their problem?"

Sakura wacked him upside the head, "They don't know it's you!" she hissed. "Pervert!" she said louder, earning nods from the guards.

"Sakura, I see you're here early," Sai waved, walking over to them. "I talked to Tsunade-sama, and she said she was sending Neji and Yamito after the others. They'll meet up with us later."

"That means we're with you guys then?" Liz asked, coming up behind Sai, "Oh joy."

"Well, we could always leave you traitors here in the village, but Kakashi and I should be more than enough to handle you four," Jiaryia walked over from the other side of the gate. He had horrible dark circles under his eyes; evidence that he had started writing again. "hmmm. Now there's a thought, an enemy Konoichi, forced into working with the hero to defeat a common foe, only to fall in love with him…."

"A new idea for your next book?" Kakashi asked, "I hope I can get an advanced copy. We're ready to head out?"

"We were just waiting on you, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura growled, "Gesh, the traitors even made it here before you. I had to deal with this pervert here! And I thought Kohnohona Ninja were bad." The guards snickered. "_I'd_ liked to get this little mission for revenge going, if you don't mind."

"Well then, Sakura-chan, why don't you lead the way?" Kakashi smiled, "Jiaryia and I will take the rear, keep an eye on these guys."

As the guards watched the group leave, the two shared a smile, "It's nice to see Sakura-chan in a better mood."

"Wait. Did Kakashi say Jiaryia was planning a new book? Didn't he stop writing after….?"

* * *

Naruto grinned, tossing off the cloak as they sped through the trees, "So, what's the plan? We gonna go beat the crap out of those asses? Some hard core payback?"

"Whoa, looks like fox-boy has a bone to pick." Hellboy laughed, "Hold your horses, kid, we've gotta find them first."

"True. The real question should be 'how do we find these creeps?'I think kicking ass is pretty much a given." Kate pointed out from her perch on Hellboy's back.

Liz shouted over to Kakashi, "Come to think of it, I hope you don't need these guys alive. Or at least, I hope you don't need many of them. Hellboy never did learn the meaning of the world 'restraint' growing up."

"Hey! Liz, that's harsh."

"It is Liz. True, though." Piped in Abe.

"What, now you too, Abe? I thought you were my friend."

"Well, you did throw Naruto across the entire room when we brought him home."

"Hey! He started it!" Hellboy grumbled, "And that was restrained. I didn't throw him though the door as well."

"Ok, well how about the time to destroyed the building during the mission?" Liz asked.

"We were fighting a demon! Besides, you were the one who fried the support beams."

Liz blushed, "So, yeah, how are we going to find these guys?"

"Not to worry, I narrowed down were their base of operations are to a small area. We're going to meet up with the others at the northern most point." Jiaryia called, "at this pace, we should reach the location in about a day."

* * *

_**A day later, because the author does not want to do another campfire scene

* * *

**_

"So, tell me again why we're sitting around waiting for Kakashi-sensei to bring a bunch of traitors? Akamaru and I can just sniff out those bastards from here." Akamaru barked in agreement.

Shikamaru sighed from his spot next to Choji, "Captain Yamato told us to wait here. He's going to be back soon with them, so we wait. It's troublesome, but it's orders." He was actually more than a little pissed off about the whole thing. Here they were, everyone who had been out looking for Akaski, gathered together by Yamato and Neji after being told they basically knew where the sons-of-bitches were, and Yamato up and leaves. Sure, he said something about making sure the others could find them, but Kiba had a point.

Kiba pat Akamaru on the head, "Naruto wouldn't have waited." For a moment the only sound that could be heard was Choji furiously chomping on his chips. Hinata, Shino, Lee and Tenten just stared at Kiba. They had all been thinking it, but they were shocked that he actually said it. No one noticed Neji's smirk. "Naruto would have told Yamato to catch up with him."

"And look where that got him!" Shikamaru snapped.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Kiba shouted back, getting to his feet.

"Isn't it obvious? If that idiot hadn't been so reckless, then maybe….!" Shikamaru trailed off. "We're waiting for Yamato and the others, and that's that."

Kiba looked away, "Yeah. Well. I still think waiting around is stupid." The group was silent for a while before Kiba piped up again. "Why are we working with traitors? I would have thought that Hokage-sama would have had them killed outright for their part."

Shimamaru shrugged. "Beats me."

"Perhaps the Hokage is still panning on eliminating them after the mission," Lee suggested.

"They're here." Neji called right before Yamato appeared from the trees.

"Good thing I went looking for them, they were a bit off course." Yamato said by way of greeting. "Listen, before they get here, there is something I should tell you guys…"

"What the hell do you mean, 'put the cape back on'?! Do you have any idea how hot that thing is?!" came a shout from the trees. The group jumped, the voice was just so loud, and familiar.

"No way, it can't be!" Kiba shook his head.

"I said NO damnit! Kakashi-sensei, this is stupid! I'm sick of hiding!"

"Impossible, Naruto is supposed to be…" Lee began, only to be interrupted as Naruto came storming out from behind a tree.

"I'm supposed to be what?" the blond growled, still pissed about the cape, and forgetting that his friends didn't know he was alive.

"….!" Lee gaped at his friend. He and the others just couldn't stop staring. Even the appearance of the others couldn't snap them out of it.

Naruto's ears started to twitch in annoyance, "I'm what, Lee?" Sakura stormed up behind him and wacked him on the back of the head. "OW! What was that for?"

"You idiot! Do you think anything through at all?"

Suddenly Naruto was enveloped in a group hug that turned into a dog pile as Akamaru joined in.

"NARUTO! YOU'RE ALIVE!"

"UMPH!"

"He's not going to be for much longer if you guys don't get off him." Laughed Hellboy. "Hey, moron, you forgot that they didn't know you were still alive, huh?" he continued as the group let Naruto up.

Naruto coughed, "Maybe…."

"But…How?" Asked Shikamaru, "I _saw _the blood, and the cave…how the hell did you survive that?"

"And more importantly, why do you have a tail?" put in Choji.

"Don't forget the ears." Added Kiba, tugging one and earning a smack.

"Kyuubi. That's how, and why." Naruto said, fending off Akamaru, who was trying to sniff his rear. "Long story short? Akaski tried to take the Kyuubi out of me, Kyuubi took over and flattened them, then we somehow got sucked into another dimension…"

"ANOTHER DIMENTION!"

Naruto continued as if he had not heard them, "…and I ran into these guys. They helped me get back to this dimension. Tsuande and the others already know I'm back, so all that's left is to wipe the floor with Akatsuki, or what's left of them."

"So, you're going to have a tail forever now?"

Jiraiya cut in, "We're working on that. Now, I know you all have a lot to catch up on, but while we're standing around gabbing, Akatsuki could find out we are coming and get away. Again. So… let's get on with this."

* * *

_**Kitsune here, One chapter done and up out of two for today. Sorry for the wait people! I did not drop off the face of the planet (it was a close call, however)**_


	16. family, foes, and revenge

_**Thus chapter contains Spoilers for Naruto!

* * *

**_

_I can't keep this up…_ Sasuke thought, sparing a glance to where Karin and the others waited. He knew if he called, his team would come running to help him beat his brother. But that wasn't how he wanted to end this. _Even if it costs me my life…_

"What's the matter, little brother? I thought you were going to kill me." Itachi laughed, not willing to let his brother know how much pain he was in. Part of him really wanted his brother to kill him. Ok, a rather large part. It had been his plan all along, have his brother kill him for destroying the clan, and his brother would be a hero back in Konohana. It was nothing more than he deserved for killing his family, even if they had been about to betray the village. He had joined Pein while waiting for Sasuke to grow up. Pein wanted to rule the world, to bring about peace. Itachi wasn't sure if he was really ok with Pein's idea, but the man had a point. Besides, he needed something to do, and it was a bit of fun going after the Jinchuuriki. He had actually asked to be put on the team to take out the 9-tailed fox. Just because he had cut ties with his village didn't mean he was all right with what that _monster_ had done to his home.

The fact that his brother had been on the same team as the little beast made it all the better. He was sure his brother would hate Naruto if he learned what Naruto had held within…which is why he had done his best to capture Naruto before his brother found out. So what if he had failed that miserably? His brother had apparently hated the blonde, but not as much as he hated Itachi. Or, at least, that's what he thought up to an hour ago. When Sasuke had come charging out of no-where, the first words out of his mouth were not along the lines of "I'll avenge my family!" but were "I'll fucking kill you for what you did to Naruto!". _That_ was the reason Sasuke landed that first blow.

Itachi spit out some blood, "If I had known that all I had to do was kill that pathetic excuse for a ninja to get you to come after me, I would have done it a long time ago. Who would have thought that he'd be more important than your family?"

Sasuke fumed, charging Itachi again, "He's not! What you did to him is just the last straw! Naruto was my friend, you bastard! If anyone was going to beat him, it was supposed to be me!"

"Hrmp," Itchi grinned, catching Sasuke's fist, which had just been flying at his head, and spinning Sasuke around. He slammed his brother into the side of a large boulder. He twisted the arm in his hand while rubbing Sasuke's face into the rock, earning a reluctant gasp from Sasuke. "_'Beat'_ him? Come on, now, little brother, you and I know I did more then beat him. Do you want the details?" Sasuke tried to shove his brother off him, but Itachi had been ready for it, and slammed Sasuke back into the rock. He brought his mouth right up to Sasuke's ear, almost lovingly, and whispered, "Oh, I think you do." Itachi chuckled, though, in his stomach twisted. It was true he had hated the fox, but _no one_ deserved to die the way Naruto had. Still, if it was the motivation his brother needed to kill him, he'd gladly re-live the event.

"After we caught him, we slowly pulled the Kyuubi out of him. It took _days_, Sasuke. He was only semi-conscious, but his _screams_ were exquisite. Oh, the boy tried to fight back, in the end. He tapped the Kyuubi's power." Itachi sighed, leaning heavily against Sasuke, who had not stopped trying to get away, "It was too much for the Jinchuuriki, I'm afraid. The power literally ripped him apart, along with the cave. It's a shame, since we were unable to harness the Kyuubi's power…"

"Bastard!" Sasuke snarled.

Itachi continued as if Sasuke had not spoken, "But in a way, you did beat him, little brother."

"What the hell are you talking about?! Let go of me so I can rip your throat out!"

"Now is that any way to talk to your older brother?" Itachi chided, "I can't believe you haven't heard! I was sure with Orochimaru's spy network, or what's left of it, you would have heard… or at least suspected…" Itachi waited for Sasuke to respond, but his brother had gone silent, and was currently powering up a Chidori, so Itachi continued, "Sasuke, how do you think we managed to get Naruto-kun away from a village that was on high alert, when he was surrounded by fellow ninja all the time?"

Sasuke ground his teeth, hoping to buy just a few more seconds for his attack, "How the hell am I supposed to know?"

"But it's so obvious, brother!" Itachi chuckled, "I just pretended to be _you_, and the fool followed me right out of the village, like a lamb to the slaughter."

Sasuke felt like the ground had just opened up under his feet. His Chidori vanished as he swayed on his feet. The raven didn't even notice that his brother had let go of him and was now standing a few feet away, watching him carefully as he fell to his knees.

"'Sasuke, Sasuke, wait up!' he kept shouting… right up until Kisame knocked him out." Itachi knew that in a minute, Sasuke would be back on his feet, fueled by rage and ready to kill him. Still, some part of him wanted to twist the knife in Sasuke's heart further. How dare his brother forget about revenge in favor of a friend? The nine tailed Jinchuuriki no less! "You can rest assured that his death was excruciating and lingering. And just think, his last memories, before unending pain that is, were of you, running away from him. He was such an idiot; he probably thought that you had turned him over to us."

"SHUT UP!" Sasuke leapt to his feet. He was beyond pissed. _This_ was the reason he hadn't stopped to talk to Sakura. He hadn't wanted to know the details, hadn't wanted to know how they had gotten to Naruto. Sasuke didn't want to think of his childhood friend, mangled and cold, lifeless in some cave. He most defiantly didn't want to think of him being ripped to pieces. His attacks flew, fast and furious. He was almost out of Chakra, but Itachi was in the same boat, meaning he really didn't have to worry about genjitsu. There were some ninjitsu he was sure Itachi could use, but he had a few at his disposal.

* * *

Karin's attention was focused on the battle Sasuke was in. She desperately wanted to rush out there and help, but she knew that Sasuke would kill her himself if she did. Suigetsu, and Jugo were laying bets on how long it would take Sasuke to win. They seemed completely at ease with what was going on, and she envied them for it. Of course, it would be nice of Suigetsu was actually looking out for any other ninja…Karin sighed, and rose to her feet. She was about to do a quick check for enemies, but as she was about to turn, she found a kunai at her neck.

"Nice to see you again, four-eyes," Sai said, adjusting his grip on her arms as Kiba and Tenten restained the others, "I'm going to have to ask you guys to stay with us, please. And no shouting,"

"What the fuck are you assholes doing?!" Suigetsu growled.

Kiba just grinned, and dug his kunai in a bit, "Listen to this guy's mouth! We're here to interrupt Sasuke's fun."

"You can't!" Karin shouted.

Sakura came out of the woods with Neji, Lee, Shikamaru and Choji. "These are the only people. We thought there was an Akatsuki, but if there was, he left very quickly." Sakura turned her attention to Karin, "We can, and we will. We need to ask Itachi some questions, and we can't do that if Sasuke kills him first."

"What kind of questions?" Jugo asked, mildly curious about why the Konohana ninja had yet to finish them off.

Shikamaru answered, "We have to ask him where the rest of the Akatsuki members are. It would be very troublesome if they got away from us while we were looking.

"That's why you want to stop Sasuke from getting revenge?"

"Yes." Sai smiled, "We need Itachi alive for our revenge, and there are more of us then you, so our revenge comes first."

"You fuckers are talking about that Naruto-guy, aren't you?"

"Good guess, shit for brains." Kiba growled.

"So, how are you guys going to stop the battle if you're here with us?" Karin asked smugly.

"Who said we were all here? The other half of the team is going to stop Sasuke-kun." Lee put in, "I think Sasuke-kun will be most surprised to see them."

"Oy! 'Fuck you talking about?"

* * *

_**Kitsune here. YAY two chapters. Sorry for the long wait. I really am. Life has gotten in the way. I've been finding a job…taking care of my animals, moving, getting into a car accident…getting a new car and such. I've been working on these for about a month. I hope that there will only be 2 more chapters, I'm getting a bit of writers fatigue with this story. R&R as always. And yes, I know this chapter is short. But, come one, Sasuke finds out Naruto is alive next chapter!  
**_


	17. Dashing, heroic, uncool

Their last attacks had pushed the two quite a distance away from each other. Both Sasuke and Itachi were at their limits. It was very possible that the next attack would kill both of them.

"Is that the best you can do, Sasuke?"

"hrmph. What about you Itachi?" Sasuke retorted, "You're pathetic."

Itachi charged at Sasuke, "I'm still more than enough to kill you, little brother."

Sasuke raced towards his brother, kunai in hand, "I'd like to see you try!" he howled, right before the ground opened up underneath him, trapping him in a hole neck deep. "What the?!"

Kakashi appeared in a cloud of smoke on the left of Saskuke's head, "Head hunter jitsu, Sasuke-kun. Don't tell me you've forgotten it?" his attention turned to the still charging Itachi, "Try not to kill him, will you? We need him alive."

Itachi skidded to a stop as his kunai whorled, intercepting six large the bullets that flew at him. "Nice to see Big Baby works ok here." Hellboy grunted as he stepped next to Sasuke's head. "Relax, buddy, I'm not gonna Kill him. Not yet, anyway."

"Who the hell are you! I'm the one who's going to kill Itachi!" Sasuke spat, "How dare you interfere Kakashi! He has to pay!"

Itachi for his part was eyeing Hellboy wearily, "Who are you, red man?"

Hellboy shouldered his gun, "Hellboy's the name, ass-kickin's the game." He grinned, "I'm guessing short stack here is Sasuke, and Mr. Creepy there is Itachi, right?"

"You shot at him without being sure?"

"Eh, I figured you ninja people would be fast enough to dodge a few bullets, Kakashi. 'Sides, I have _horrible_ aim, that's why I have a big gun."

"Kakashi! Let me out of this right now! I _have_ to finish this!" Sasuke continued to shout.

"Yeah yeah, kid, we get it. But, see, we kinda need his scrawny ass alive. He's gonna tell us where to find the rest of his organization."

"Like hell I will. You buffoons interrupted our little family reunion."

"We're not askin' nicely."

Kakashi's eye smiled, "I'd suggest not arguing with my friend here. He tends to break things that annoy him." He looked down at Sasuke, "I can't say I'm too sorry about this. For the mean time, I think it's better if you just stay where you are."

"KAKASHI! NO! He's mine! How could you even think about letting him live?! Because of him I've lost everything! Because of him…! Because of him Naruto is dead! He has to pay!" he screamed, ignoring the sound of someone 's footsteps coming up from behind him, and Itachi's look of confusion.

"Yeah, yeah. I've heard it all before…" said a voice from behind him, "you've always been talking about killing your brother. But don't you think, if he killed me, I should be the one to get revenge?" Naruto pointed out, stepping over Sasuke's head to stand in front of him, facing Itachi.

Sasuke gasped, "N-Naruto?"

Naruto turned his head so he could look down at his oldest friend, "Yo, Sasuke. Long time, no see, huh?" inwardly, he crowed _'that was so cool! Who's the cooler ninja now, teme?'_ he turned back towards Itachi, "Itachi, I have come back from the dead to kick your family-murdering kidnapping and torturing _ASS_!"

"How is it that you stand before me?"

"Like we're going to tell you that?" Hellboy grinned, "Hey, kit, you kinda ruined the whole Macho reunion with that little speech."

"I thought it was cool…."

"No, Hellboy's right." Kakashi put in, "it was a bit overdone. 'back from the dead?'"

"Shut up!" Sputtered Naruto, "That's besides the point! ITACHI! Tell me where the others are or I'm going to make fox-food out of you!"

Sasuke finally shook the stupor that the site of his dead former friend standing before and above him. "WOULD SOME ONE TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON!"

"Simple, I'm not as dead as everyone thought." Naruto answered, turning to look at down at his friend, "I am, however, REALLY pissed off about this whole kill-Naruto-and-steal-the-fox attempt. It sucked. Short version? Thanks to your Ass of a brother, I ended up being tortured, manipulated, and tossed into another dimension. Naked. NAKED! TO YOU HEAR ME ITACHI?!" Naruto shouted over his shoulder. "AND to top it all off, after I FINNALLY get back here, EVERYONE thinks I'm DEAD! Do you have any idea what it's like to be told you're a dead walking zombie-puppet?" He glared at Sasuke, "_You_ think you have problems? _I'll_ give you problems you conceded twit! This is all your fault!" He ground his foot into Sasuke's hair.

Itachi was simply put Shocked. Not only was Naruto standing before him, back from the dead…not only did he bring friends (scary friends)…not only did his fight actually get stopped, _but they were ignoring him!_

"How is this my fault, idiot?!" Sasuke snarled up (Itachi had to admit, Sasuke looked really cute trapped in the sand glaring at Naruto like that.)

"If you had just kept your ass in the village like you should have instead of going with Orochimaru on some stupid quest for revenge, _I_ wouldn't be in this mess!"

"Where'd you come up with that one, dump ass?" Snapped back Sasuke.

"Uh, did you forget about Itachi?" Kakashi asked, "And isn't it his fault?" he pointed to Itachi.

Itachi gulped (very carefully so no one would notice) as Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi and Hellboy turned and looked at him. He was close enough that he had no problem seeing the looks they were giving him. The facial expressions ranged from murderous rage (Sasuke) to Malisious Glee (Hellboy). What was worse, Naruto actually looked _calculating._ He was no fool, no way he was going to win this fight…. Not after his brawl-to-the-death with Sasuke. _'Eeeeep' _

Itachi decided to take the easy way out for a change. With a demeanor that didn't even hint at his rising panic he grinned. "In the interest ofspeeding this process along and saving myself the boredom of listening to the freak and my little brother snipe at each other, I surrender. Just shut them up!"

* * *

**Kitsune here! Ok, So I did drop off the face of the earth. I do wanna saw a BIG THANKS to everyone who's faved, reviewed, or just read this. Things got bussy.. 2 jobs, people. 2. I have no free time. So, I am trying. I'll try and get the next part up soon. And Sorry this one was short.**


	18. sleepy, cranky, and loaded

"So…why are we bringing Itachi back to the village again?"

"Naruto, I've told you before, we need to check his information." Jiraiya sighed. The real reason of course would be to see if he knew how the hell to change Naruto back. The sage was no dummy, he knew if Naruto was pissed off about what had happened, the Kyuubi must be enraged.

Naruto's tail swished in annoyance. "Yeah, well, I think we could just beat the shit out of him. If he doesn't change his story, he's telling the truth." His declaration was met with awkward silence.

Itachi looked over at the youth walking next to him. Naruto had been no more than 5 feet way since Kakashi had tied him up and Hellboy had stuck Sunglasses on him. The sunglasses were reflective, and amazingly effective in preventing him from using any sharingan tricks, much to his dismay. "Since when did Naruto-kun grow a set?" He asked, "Last I heard, you were a weakling when it came to hurting others."

"Yeah, well, prolonged torture changes a guy. And don't ever call me Naruto-kun again."

"I see. Naruto has a dark side after all." Itachi cocked his head towards Kakashi, "Or maybe it's just Kyuubi's influence?"

Naruto flinched, "That fox has nothing to do with it!"

"Oh?"

"…."

* * *

Sasuke settled himself back on the log next to Sai and put a plate down next to the other young man. He looked down at his own plate before looking back over at where Naruto sat, arguing with Hellboy about the awesome powers of Raman vs Nachos. "So, let me see if I've got this strait. Naruto had Kyuubi inside of him since the demon attacked the village."

Said nodded, not looking up from his sketchbook where he was drawing lots of chibi Naruto foxes. "Yes."

"That explains a lot." Sasuke mused. He and Sai had struck up a sort of friendship during the day. Mostly because Sakura and the other rookie 9 wouldn't talk to him and Naruto had spent the day growling at Itachi. He could understand the others, but Naruto's behavior was disturbing to him. It was just so out of character for the blond, and it seemed that the other's felt the same, if the worried looks were any indication. Sasuke sighed; confused on how he'd gotten roped into going back to the village, and about everything else that had happened.

"Do you think he looked better before?" Sai asked.

"huh?"

Sai held up his notebook, pointing at the pictures, "you know, before. Without the tail and ears."

'_this guy has some serious Naruto-obsession going on…'_ Sasuke looked over at his friend and then at Sai's drawings, blushing at the half finished bath one. '_oh yeah, poor Naruto…'__** "**_I'd say before. This new…look is weird."

Sai frowned slightly, "I like both I think. His moods have always been easy to read. But now it's like he can't lie. The fox parts give him away." He looked back at his sketches, "I think Naruto-kun agrees with you, though."

The two fell silent for a while, each mulling over different things. Sasuke felt something wasn't quite right….but for the life of him he couldn't place it, there was just too much weirdness going on. With a shrug, he put it out of his mind, however, and decided to focus on exactly how he'd enter leaf without getting killed.

* * *

Naruto was running though a dark corridor, his echoing footfalls the only sound besides his labored breathing. A feeling of panic rose within him as he ran.

_**How are you enjoying your little run, kit?**_

He stumbled to a halt, looking wildly around. There was nothing, yet he could still hear the voice's echo. Quickly he started running again, heedless of direction.

_**Hahahahaha! You think you can get away?**_

There was a split in the corridor, and Naruto dove to the left, sensing fresher air.

_**Foolish kit, where do you think to run to?**_

His lungs were burning by this point. Naruto had been running flat out for what felt like an eternity. He kept pushing though, trying to find a way out of the dark corridors, A light glow seemed to emanate from the floor, slowly lighting up his surroundings. Suddenly he tripped and fell, laying on the ground panting hard. '_I've done it! I've….'_ Naruto sat up and looked at where he was, only to be greeted by walls. He was in a circular room, with no way in or out.

_**There's no escape.**_

* * *

Sasuke was having difficulty sleeping, his mind buzzing with the events of the day. Luckily, being a ninja meant he could go without sleep for quite a while. On the other hand, he was really warn out. With yet another groan he rolled over again, trying to find a comfortable position. His new position found him facing Naruto from across the campsite. "look at that, the moron is sound asleep," he muttered. "Then again, everyone but that red monster of a man is sleeping except for me…." He sighed, digging a rock out from under his hip. Movement caught his eye, but it turned out to just be Naruto rolling over. The blond youth opened his eyes and grinned. Sasuke smirked back before he realized Naruto's eyes were shining red in the meager light. "Huh?" He muttered struggling to sit up, fully tangled in his blanket. When he had managed to extract himself, he looked over at his old friend, to find him snoring away. "Weird. I must be sleeping with my eyes open or something." He grumbled as he settled back down.

"ah-AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" everyone was awoken a short while later to Naruto's gut-wrenching scream.

"SHIT!" Hellboy snarled, barreling over to the thrashing teen and picking him up as he continued deeper into the woods. "I've got it. Kakashi, your shift! Of all the rotten stupid ass…. OW! No biting!"

Everyone looked at each other in stunned silence. "What the fuck was that?" shouted Suigetsu.

Yamato, with a look to Kakashi shrugged, "Nightmare. Nothing to worry about, back to sleep; we've got an early morning.

"Must be some Fucking nightmare to still be sleeping when that ugly ass picked him up. Almost shit myself there." Suigetsu gripped as he settled down again.

"Does he have nightmares a lot?" Kerin asked.

Sakura scowled at the other kunoichi, thinking back on the last few nights where Naruto's tossing an moaning had woken her and growled out, "what do you think?"

Jiraiya frowned, looking in the direction Hellboy had taken, then at the other visitors, who were looking a little jumpy. He walked over to Kakashi spoke to his young friend quietly, "Something's up; something they're not sharing with us."

"I agree. These 'nightmares' are getting worse, and I think Naruto might have been…glowing a bit. We need to check this out."

The old sage nodded then said loudly, "Kakashi, I'm going give Hellboy a hand with our student. Make sure he's ok."

Jiraiya found his pupil and Hellboy a short distance away. Naruto was out cold, tied to a tree, while Hellboy was stomping back and forth cursing up a storm.

"Fuck, man. I knew I should have told Father about that weird glow-y shit you pulled back home." He shook a finger at the still form, "how the hell am I supposed to leave you here and head home when you're like this, huh? Your friends ain't exactly feeling the love for that fox monster, you know! If they find out….ah hell, I'm not good at this type of thing. I just break things…"

"Find out about what?" Jiraiya asked, coming forward, not even phased by the gun pointed at him. "What exactly is wrong with Naruto? And why did you tie him to a tree?"

Hellboy sheepishly re-holstered his gun, "Wha…? Nothing, no reason at all…."

"You are a horrible liar." Jiraiya shook his head. "I've suspected for a while that something was wrong. Judging from your comments, and the strange glow, I'd assume that the barrier holding Kyuubi has weakened greatly."

"Er…yeah."

"Does Naruto know?"

"Hard to say. He hasn't said anything about it, but, I think he knows something is up…."

"Maybe you should start from the beginning?" Jiraiya asked, leaning over Naruto and giving him a cursory examination.

"un-ugh." Naruto moaned, pulling his head out from under Jiraiya's hand and yawning, "what's up Sensei, what are you doing?" He tried to stretch, only to find out he couldn't, "Ora? Why am I tied to a tree? And where is everyone?"

"You were having a nightmare."

Naruto instantly remembered the whole dream, the corrodors, the Fox's laughter, the dread... but that was it. He just _knew_ there was more to it... "So you tied me to a tree?"

Hellboy explained, "Well, you were thrashing around, and then you bit me, so I thought it was for the best." Both Naruto and Jiraiya looked at him with raised eyebrows, "What? It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Why do I get the feeling that's why you do most of what you do?" Jiraiya shook his head as he untied Naruto, "Well, this isn't necessary anymore, now is it Naruto?" He helped his student to his feet. "Your nightmare's seem to be getting worse."

Even though it wasn't a question, Naruto felt compelled to explain, "It must be being near Itachi, right? I mean I don't remember what happened, not really, but I know it was bad. And HE was part of it..."

"That seems likely. There isn't anything else that you know of is there? Jiraiya asked. He pretended not to notice Naruto's ears going flush against his skull and the tail creeping between his legs as the youth emphatically shook his head. "Well then, let's head back to camp and get to sleep. We've got a long way to go tomorrow." He lightly shoved Naruto back towards the camp. Naruto, glad that his excuse had been bought, raced ahead. "Don't get lost, now!"

"Sensai! I'm a ninja like that would happen!"

Jiraiya and Hellboy waited till Naruto was out of site (and earshot) before sharing a look. "You caught that, right? The ear thing? Brat's a horrible liar." Hellboy grumbled. Jiraiya just looked pensive, "You ok there?"

"humm? Yes, I'm fine...." _Am I going to lose him to that damn fox after just getting him back? No! I won't let that happen...Tsunade should know about this. We should be able to do something. I'll send her a toad in the morning...

* * *

_

That morning the whole group was quiet while breaking camp, particularly considering how large the group was. Some were quiet from lack of sleep, others were pensive over the events of the last few days. The taboo lasted well into the journey back.

It wasn't long before Itachi felt the presence of Kisame . The Chakra was well masked, but he had been with the shark-man for a long time, and even since his site had been going, his chakra sensing abilities had increased. All he needed was a distraction...

Itachi smirked as he walked along, "So, Naruto-_chan_, Sleep well?" Naruto visibly tensed up.

"Just ignore him, Naruto," Advised Sakura as she came up beside her friend.

"I slept remarkably well. In fact, I had the most pleasant dream. I dreamt about when we captured you...."

Naruto growled, "SHUT UP."

"Is something the matter, Naruto-_chan_? Did I hit a nerve? Poor baby, do you need a hug?" Itachi sneered, pushing Naruto harder. He wasn't a fool, he knew Naruto was at his breaking point, but he also knew that they wanted to bring him back alive. If the blond went off, the rest of the group would be distracted, hopefully long enough for Kisame to rescue him. They'd come back for Naruto later. Maybe he'd kill the stupid fox-boy in front of his brother as revenge... "Or would that be 'poor fox-kit' now? I wonder..."

Finally Naruto couldn't take in any longer, he threw himself towards Itachi. The rest of the team immediately attempted to hold him back, but Naruto had become a lot stronger recently. With a quick jerk he managed to punch Itachi in the face. Only, it wasn't Itachi who took the blow, it was Kisame , who went flying back into Itachi slamming him into the ground. That in itself would have been satisfying, since Kisame was no light-weight, except for the fact that Kisame was even there.

"You little shit-head! That hurt!"

"KISSAME! I'LL KILL YOU!" Howled Naruto, eyes flashing red for a second.

"Yeah, yeah, enough of that," Hellboy growled, firing a shot right into Kisame's gut at point blank range. "You guys are idiots, trying to use Naruto as a distraction. We knew you were there the whole time, you just fell for it."

Kisame coughed up some blood, holding the sizable whole in his chest, "Bastard...."

"Relax, chomper, I didn't hit anything vital." Hellboy holstered his gun as Kisame was summarily tied up.

"I wonder if this is where the saying 'A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.'" Kate wondered, putting a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "And who is this nasty looking fellow?"

" Kisame . He's the bastard that worked with Itachi to catch me..."

"I can kind of see you thinking Liz was Itachi," Started Hellboy, "But I don't think this guy looks like Abe at all."

"Wait...you thought we looked alike?!" Abe looked back and forth between Naruto and Kisame , "WHERE DO YOU GET THAT?"

Kisame chuckled, albeit painfully, "Hey, little-bro."

* * *

_**Kitsune here. No excuses (none that you want to hear about anyway). I took too long to get this up. Half of it was on my old computer, ready to go...and I stalled. and Stalled. just no motivation. So I finished this up, and I wrote the next "Bleaching the Darkness" Chapter....so it may be a while before I finish this, but it will be finished. just stick with me, ok? This is much longer then I was expecting (this chapter AND the story) and look! Adding ANOTHER plot twist....sorta. Well I'm off to upload this. R&R people.**_


	19. Home, rules, and confinement

_**I'm BACK! I've been working on this sucker for a while, and I'm STILL not done! I wasn't going to upload until the story was finished, but I HOPE we are finally near the end. This story has taken on a life of it's own. So, Sorry for the wait. You'll notice this is a multi-chap update because it's over 4,400 words, and a lot happens, I've decided to break it into shorter chaps. Thanks to all the reviewers, fave-ers and alert people. I know you're watching and this chap-bunch is for you.**_

Hellboy lit up a cigar as he and Jiraiya looked towards Konoha, just minutes away. It had taken three more days to reach the village, three days of snarky comments, little fights and a lot of whining. And that was just from Abe and Kissame. With a sigh, he took a long drag and offered his match to the nin. "You know, we didn't really plan on how to get back IN to Konoha."

Jiraiya lit his pipe and nodded, "No, we didn't."

"We've got a much larger group now."

"Yeah, you could say that."

"And not everyone here is welcome there." Hellboy winced as he heard another shouting match break out behind him.

"Very true."

Now, Hellboy was just thinking that the Konoha Ninja could just walk right in, and he and his friends would use the same method they had to enter the first time but as for the others, he was stumped. "So, how exactly do you plan to get two mega bad guys and the emo-brigade in?"

"Wait, why is this suddenly MY problem?" Jiraiya grumbled, "I don't see how I'm more qualified to figure this out then, say, Kakashi."

Hellboy grinned, "Yeah. But he's busy stopping all the kiddies from killing each other. So, it's your job."

There was a second of dead silence behind them followed by a dull thud and shouting. "Gah. I'll send Tsunade a toad. She'll know what to do."

"I'm sure she'll just LOVE you for it."

* * *

In the end, it wasn't that difficult. Tsunade was a formidable woman, and when she came storming to the gate decked Jiraiya before shouting at the guards to continue about there business, no one was about to mention the large group of people being escorted through the gate by a large number of ninja. Particularly when Ibiki was right there and lead two of the obviously captive people in a different direction. In the face of all this, the gate guards just thought it was better to pretend that they hadn't seen Sasuke walking next to a caped person and the red giant. They wisely went back to their game of cards.

As for Sasuke and his little group, they had been warned that if they drew _any_ attention to themselves, Ibiki would be the one to debrief them, and determine if they were a threat via the letter Tsunade had sent back with the toad. She had already contacted the elders, and they were in an emergency session deciding what to do with team Hawk. Tsuade's plan was to retroactively sanction Sasuke's activities with Orochimaru as a infiltration and assassination mission, and as he was back in the village, the elders were not putting up too much of a fuss, except for Danzo, who wanted both he and Itachi killed.

It only took a few minutes to go to the Hokage's office, ignoring all the silent stares of the villagers who were trying really hard to pretend they weren't watching. The ninja's following along the roof-line were a bit distracting, though. When they reached the office, Tsunade sent everyone but Team 7, Hawk, and Hellboy's group out for a quick debrief.

"Well, I see you accomplished your Mission, Naruto-kun," She looked over at Sasuke, who was glaring at the floor, "both of them. I'm doing what I can to integrate Sasuke's little group into the village, and of course, remove them from the missing-nin list." She glared at Sasuke, "YOU are not to leave the village until I say so. I'm calling in a lot of favors for Naruto here, and I'll be damned if you're going to screw it up. Is that clear?"

All four hawk members gulped at the look in Tsunade's eyes before bobbing their heads and chorusing, "Yes, Hokage-sama." There was a moment of silence before Suigetsu opened his mouth, "Fuck, lady, you're one scary bit..." Sasuke took that moment to clobber his friend over the head. "What the hell man?"

"Shut up." Sasuke hissed, "or I'll kill you, you idiot!"

"My, Sasuke, you've found such charming friends," Kakashi quipped, turning the page of his book. "Tsunade-sama if you're done scaring them?"

The blonde woman sighed, "Jiraiya sent a report ahead, so I don't see a reason to keep you kids here." She nodded to team seven, including Hawk with her gaze, "Why don't you go over to the dorms with Shizune? She'll get you lot settled, and get you all something to eat. I need to talk to the others about how to get Hellboy home." The teens didn't need to be told twice and were halfway out the door before Tsunade added, "DON'T get into any trouble; remember, the council is going to be watching you.

"Let's get raman!"

"KEEP A LOW PROFILE!"

The adults shared a look as Naruto practically dragged Sasuke along, dashing down the stairs and across the yard in record time. Shizune and the rest followed at a much more sedate pace.

"So, how are we getting home?" Abe asked.

"Right now, I have no clue. We've come across some places that feel similar to what you and Naruto described, but we don't know how to open the way safely, or keep it from pulling anyone but you in." She sighed, "it would be troublesome if we accidently sent ninja with you... but I've been informed that headway is being made, and now that you're back from the mission, the research department was hoping you would be able to help."

"I'm not sure how much help the others would be, they tend to break things that confuse them..."

"Hey!"

"But I'm more than willing to go over and see how I can help." Kate grinned, ruefully smiling at her friends.

"Great! First thing tomorrow I'll have Shikamaru bring you over."

"The kid with the pineapple head?" Jiraiya , Yamato, and Tsunade grinned, "are you sure it won't be to 'troublesome' for him?"

Kakashi put away his book and smiled, "Oh I'm sure he can manage. The real question right now is what we're going to do about Naruto?" His continence became very serious, "I've been noticing that Naruto-kun seems troubled, he's having nightmares, which is unusual for him. Also, I've noticed he's not eating quite as much as he used to as well."

"He seems...off." Yamato added, "I know he's been through a lot, but something isn't quite right. He's hiding something."

"He's not very good at hiding things, is he?" Jiraiya nodded as the others all became very serious, "The Kyuubi is breaking free." He held out his hand to forestall the outburst, "Hellboy can explain a little better, but I believe that the seal is weakening steadily, and the fox is trying to get out." Everyone turned and looked at Hellboy.

"We left out some stuff about when we found Naruto," He nodded to Liz, "Liz, Abe and I decided that is was best not to tell you, since you all seemed to be so adamantly anti-fox. When Naruto came through the gate, or whatever, he wasn't himself. And I don't just mean he was a lot scarier-looking. The guy I talked to was most likely your demon fox, and he was REALLY pissed. The later, back at the BPD, I caught Naruto arguing with himself and glowing...burnt the wall even."

"You didn't tell us that." Abe pointed out.

"Yeah, well, didn't seem important at the time. He also turned back into the fox right before we came through the gate-thing...and it sure as hell was hard to subdue him. Not to mention in the woods three nights ago he turned all glow-y again..."

Yamato rubbed his chin, "I haven't felt any change in the seal, but that doesn't mean much, since he looks as he does right now. I have just one more question. Does Naruto know?"

"I've got another, What do we do about it?" Added Kakashi.

Jiraiya sighed, "I can't see how Naruto doesn't know, or at least suspect. As for what we do, I've got no clue. We can't tell the council of elders, that's for sure."

"I'll just take him tomorrow and run tests. LOTS of tests. Hopefully I'd find out something that can help. He's expecting me to try and return him to normal anyway." Tsunade turned to Hellboy, "What I need you three to do is write out what actually has been happening. In detail, even if it's just a feeling you got."

* * *

Naruto was sulking. There was no other word for it. He had been informed that he would NOT be allowed to go to his favorite ramen stand, but instead would have to order takeout. Not to mention he was to stay in the dorms. In fact every time he tried to leave, be it though the front door, the window, or the roof, and ANBU would show up and block him. He was very annoyed. Then Sasuke shut his door in Naruto's face, telling him he had a headache. Sakura and Karin were discussing medical jutsu and Sai was sketching the other two other members of Hawk in a series of weird poses. He was very bored as well as annoyed. There was nothing to keep him mind off the growing feeling of _otherness_. The slightly-louder than a whisper that muttered dark things, things he couldn't make out but gave him chills. He considered drinking the bottle of Sake he found in the kitchen to kill the feeling, but something told him it might just make it worse. So, with a sigh, he went to join Sakura and Karin. Maybe they needed a model to point things out on or something...

"Oh! So that's how it works!" Sakura exclaimed, as Naruto walked into the room, her attention fixed on the other Konochi.

"Hey girls. Mind if I join you?"

"Naruto? You've never been interested in medical jutsu before."

He grinned sheepishly, "Yeah well, there's nothing to do, and if it's between being your model or Sai's...I'd rather be here." Both of the girls laughed, "So, can I stay?"

Karin adjusted her glasses, hiding her slight bush, she'd never realized that Naruto_, Her_ Sasuke's friend, was so...cute...before, "Sure. We'd love the company."

"Cool." He grinned wider, stepping into the room, "So what can I do for you lovely ladies?" in a split second, the whispering in his head got louder and Naruto faltered, a pained look on his face. _**kill them, gut them, rend them, KILL THEM**_

_"_Naruto?" He looked up at the sound of Sakura's worried voice and saw their lifeless bodies sitting on chairs stained red with blood. "Are you ok?" He blinked, and waved Sakura off as she started to get up from the green chair, giving her a shaky smile.

"Sorry, I just heard a really loud sound." he lied.

"hm, I didn't hear anything," Karin muttered, "Those ears must pick up a lot?"

"You wouldn't believe it! I can hear Sasuke muttering in his room and Sai trying to get the others to do all sorts of stuff!"

Sakura smiled shakily, not really believing her friend, but willing to pretend everything was fine, "Well, get over here so we can take a look at them."

"I told you I need to run more tests!"

"But I've been here all day today, yesterday and the day before that! I want to go do something, this is stupid!"

* * *

"You're not going anywhere! I'll lock you in here if you so much as walk down the hall!" Tsunade shouted back at Naruto, slamming the door as she stormed off. She ignored the looks of the other people in the hall as she made her way back to the small office she had commandeered, only pausing when she heard the clipboard cracking in her iron grip. With a sigh, she loosened her grip, but did not look at the data, data she knew would be bad, just like the data from the last four times she had run the test. Instead she called out to the ANBU who was discreetly following her, "Make sure he doesn't leave that room, but try not to use force. report anything he does to me." By then she was at the office and shut the door firmly on the ANBU's "Yes, Hokage-sama!" it was only then that she looked down at the clipboard, fighting the urge to throw it across the room.

Instead, she smoothed out the papers before placing them on a pile of similar ones. It was much worse then she had been expecting, even given the tests she had run before sending Naruto out after Itachi. She poured a shot of Sake to calm her nerves, "Naruto, what are we going to do?" she muttered, pulling another file towards her, one that had been placed on her desk while she was with the young blonde. "tck. I wish just one of these stupid tests had some good news! All this is telling me is how FAST that damn Kyuubi is taking over, and not how to slow it down, let alone stop it or reverse it!"

There was a knock on her door, "Come in!"

"I take it no good news?" Jiraiya asked, shutting the door behind him.

"Of course not!" Tsunade raged tossing the latest findings at him "The fox's chakra has all but subsumed Naruto's at this point." She pointed to a chart on the left, "His hearing has gotten so much better in better in a day, Jiraiya , a _day_ ...I had to move my office; he was starting to ask about things I was going over in the old one while he was in his room!" She poured another shot, and after a look at her old friend, a shot for him, "His eyesight has gotten better as well, though what worries me is his eye color is changing." She waved off Jiraiya , "it's not so much that other's have noticed, but I've taken the mirror out of the room he's in. I don't want him to know his eyes have purple streaks in them."

"So, what are we going to do?"

"I have no clue right now."

The two Sanin looked at each other for a moment. "I'm going to take Naruto home with me right now. I'll see if I can find out anything we can do after I examine the seal."


	20. Changes, fear, panic

_**Part two!**_

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"Can we PLEASE go do something? Anything?" Naruto begged as he pulled the cape back on.

"Now, you know better than to ask that," Jiraiya admonished, "Tsunade would kill me. No, I'm afraid it's strait to my place tonight. I do want your opinions of the new _Come Come_ book, the one with the twins."

"Naruto paused in putting on his shoes, looking up at Jiraiya in confusion, "Twins? I didn't know there were going to be twins."

Jiraiya's heart skipped a beat as he forced himself not to show it on his face. The twins had been Naruto's idea, he'd been adamant about it before he...left. It had been part of why he _knew_ this really was Naruto when he had come back so changed! "Oh, well, it's just something I'd been thinking about for a while."

Naruto stood, ready to go, "Well, it's an awesome idea!"

The two left the hospital in silence, walking towards the apartment Jiraiya was staying in. The sun was setting, leaving the streets a bit emptier then usual which was fine by Jiraiya . He'd stocked up on Ramen and that stupid drink Naruto liked, even took out all the mirrors, except the one in the bathroom, which he'd deliberately soaped up so it's reflection was distorted. He just hoped he could get to the bottom of things.

* * *

Tsunade was pouring another shot of Sake, well past the "calming my nerves" state when there was a knock on the office door. She chose to ignore it. After all, the only ones who knew she was there were the ANBU and they didn't knock. It came again. "Go away!"

"Tsunade-sama?" Sakua's voice called, "I have to talk to you, it's important." she sounded panicked. _That _got Tsunade's attention. She quickly crossed the room and unlocked the door. Sakura stood on the other side of the door with Karin. The pink haired young woman was obviously upset, and Karin had her arm protectively around her.

"Ignore the mess." Tsuande motioned both girls to enter the room. "And tell me what made you hunt me down." She continued as she locked the door again.

Karin waited, expecting Sakura to start explaining what had caused them to spend the better part of a day looking for Tsuande. When the silence went on too long, she gave her new friend a squeeze before starting, "It's about Naruto-kun. Something's very wrong." Sakura started to cry.

"Wrong how?"

Karin shrugged, looking nervous, ignoring the question she started from a different angle. She wasn't sure how to handle this, after all she hadn't known Naruto all that long. She didn't want the Hokage, a woman she was coming to admire, to think she was maligning the blond. "The others, Suigetsu and Jūgo, they're getting into a lot of stupid arguments with him, but that's just because they're idiots. He's avoiding Sai and even Sasuke. He just sits in his room all the time. He won't talk to any of us, and when we ask what's wrong he starts shouting..." She looked away from the stern look on Tsunade's face, at Sakura, feeling that she was making a mess of this, knowing it was so much more then what she was saying, but not having the right words. She didn't realize that Tsunade understood exactly what she meant.

After a moment Sakura sniffled, "We...Karin and I, we went into his room today. I thought it might help cheer him up if we cleaned it up and we were even going to get the guys to help re-arrange things. But, oh Tsunade-sama!" She started crying a bit again.

"Sakura! Get a hold of yourself! I can't help if you don't tell me EXACTLY what's wrong."

"The room was trashed." Karin stated matter of factly, "It looked like Jugo had gone on a rampage with Segitsu's sword in there.."

Sakura continued, "The bed, linins, even his cloths, they're shredded. The door's got a heavy duty lock on it, and I KNOW that wasn't there when we went into the dorms." _Well, _Tsunade thought, _At least I know where the lock to the pharmacy went_. "And the door has deep scratches all over it."

"Particularly around the door handle and the lock." Karin added, "There's even a few seals on the frame, where you wouldn't see them if the doors closed." _and the seals to my Sake stash_.

"I see." _boy, do I see. This is so much worse than I thought._ "Anything else?" Karin nudged Sakura. "Sakura? Anything at all?" The shinobi hesitated, feeling like she was betraying Naruto. Tsuade sighed, deciding that they needed to be told what was going on, or at least part of it. "Sakura, I need to know anything you can tell me. Naruto...He's sick. Very Sick. The kyuubi is doing things to him, and I'm trying to find a way to stop it. Reverse it if I can. But I can't do anything if I don't know what all the symptoms are."

"Sick?" Sakura looked up, a little hopeful, "So he can get better? He's not...He'll be ok?"

"I honestly don't know, Sakura. But we're all doing our best."

Sakura nodded, coming to a decision, "Right before we came to look for you, Sasuke found us. He said that this morning he'd seen Naruto in the community kitchen. He said he'd thought that Naruto was making toast or something, except he was just standing there, holding a bread-knife. When Sasuke came over and asked what was wrong Naruto swung at him with the knife. Sasuke said that it was as if Naruto didn't even recognize him for a second. But then Naruto yelled at him for sneaking up on him before storming out. Except, Naruto can hear where anyone is in the dorms, so there's no way Sasuke should have been able to sneak up on him. I think Sai has had a run in with Naruto like this too, but when I asked, he wouldn't tell me." Sakura looked over at the desk, noticing for the first time it was covered in charts and paperwork. "Can we help?"

"Pull up a chair. I warn you though, it's not pretty."

* * *

"Hey, Naruto, you ok in there?" Jiraiya asked for what felt like the 100th time. Everything seemed fine during dinner. He had noticed that Naruto had been twitchy for a bit, his ears swiveling every which way, but other than that everything had gone well. Right up until he had asked Naruto to go into the kitchen and grab the Sake. When Naruto had come back into the main room he had just stopped moving, stared straight ahead. His tail bushed out, and his ears went limp. When Jiraiya asked if he had started drinking without him the blond had turned his head slowly until he was looking right at him, and started to hyperventilate. He'd then dropped the bottle of Sake, and before the old sage could get to his feet Naruto had looked at his hands, whimpered, and fled to the bathroom, locking the door behind him.

That had been fifteen minutes ago. "Naruto! Naruto, I'm serious. Answer me right now or I'm breaking down this door and you'll have to pay the deposit." He joked, trying to hide his worry. He heard movement on the other side of the door and relaxed a bit, sure that Naruto was going to unlock the door. "I've got more Sake, you know, so I'm not..." There was a bang and the sound of glass shattering. "NARUTO!" There was still no answer "Fuck this!" Jiraiya slammed his weight against the door, busting it. He stumbled into the small bathroom, feet crunching on the rements of the bloody mirror. Naruto sat in the shower shivering staring straight at Jiraiya . The senin cursed under his breath before slowly crouching in front of his student. "Are you ok? What happened?" The youth just continued to shake, so he reached out.

"Don't touch me!" the blond flinched, "please...please just leave me alone."

Jiraiya frowned, "you know I can't do that. you're hands are bloody. I just want to make sure you are ok." He tried to smile, but it felt weak. There was no hiding the fact that something was very wrong here, and they both knew it. "Want to tell me what happened?"

"No." Naruto hugged his legs and shut his eyes.

"You know, after a bad mission, it's not uncommon for shinobi to suffer from Battlefield Syndrome..." Jiraiya ran his hand through his white hair, knowing the 'out' was a lousy one. Naruto just made a sound between a whine and a moan. The moment of taboo stretched on, "It's ok, Naruto."

"It's _not._" the blond clenched his fist, he sounded terrified. Instinctively his teacher leaned towards him, only to find Naruto's hand around his throat.

It had happened in an instant, and the Senin hadn't even seen Naruto move. He froze, looking into Naruto's eyes, expecting to see something, maybe the fox, looking back at him. Instead, there was nothing. Seconds ticked by and the boy blinked, seeing his master again. He shuddered, nails digging into the other's throat. Still Jiraiya didn't move, didn't say anything. He watched Naruto's face calmly, forcing himself to relax. Once before he had been in a situation like this, before Orochimaru had left the village. He knew what to do, he told himself as he swallowed and felt the hand clench tighter. At least, he hoped he did, he closed his eyes most of the way, telling himself that Naruto wasn't the one doing this, that he had to trust the blond. Time dragged by, and he heard whispering as the hand about his neck loosened and tightened.

"_let go let go let go let go let go_" Naruto muttered, "_my hand mine MINE, let go please let go don't make me do this please oh please..._" he started to whine like a trapped animal, his other hand coming up and out of Jiraiya 's sight. He knew then that things were a LOT worse than Tsuande expected. The fox was controlling Naruto right now and Naruto _knew_ it, but couldn't stop it. His student was going to kill him, and there was nothing either of them could do about it. He heard a dull snap and suddenly the pressure on his throat vanished. His eyes flew open as he gasped for breath. "I...I think I'm in a lot of trouble, ero-seni..." Naruto's voice shook, he cradled his broken wrist against his chest as his eyes glazed over in pain.

"It's ok, it'll be all right," Wheeze the older Shinobi, "We'll fix this."

Naruto cried out as red chakra poured out of him for a moment. Jiraiya , ignoring the pain, held his student tight as he shook. Just as quickly as it started it stopped, leaving Naruto passed out in his arms.

"I've got him" Hellboy said coming into the bathroom and holstering his gun. Jiraiya looked up at him shocked as the red demon picked up the boy. "I was coming over to get away from Liz for a bit, thought we could spend some guy time and where I got here I heard a crash. You didn't answer when I called so I had to bust down the door. Came in just in time to see the fox make the brat kill you." The shinobi got to his feet, wincing a bit from his mild burns and the glass shards in his knees. He looked at the very large gun at Hellboy's waist. Hellboy followed his gaze, "Yeah. I would have shot him."

"If you had killed him, even to save my life, you wouldn't live to see your home."

"Yeah, yeah. That's why I'm packing rubber bullets. Non lethal." He calmly stated as the two started the walk towards the hospital. Luckily it was late and there was no one about, save for an ANBU who ran ahead to warn Tsunade, "I'm glad I didn't have to though."

**_

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I want to get the rest of the story finished before I upload any more, so it'll be a while. sorry guys. Hope you enjoy, and R&R please. Oh, and "Battlefield syndrome" is basically Post-traumatic stress disorder. It's an older name for it._**


	21. Eggs, shots, and dead ends

The fox was officially in the henhouse, eating all the eggs, and murdering the nice little chicks while the chickens shrieked in horror. Oh YES, yes he was. And was enjoying it very much. For too long had Kyuubi been tied to humanity, too long had he been forced to share his powers with weak puny little two-legged featherless chickens, and he was PISSED. He had been trilled, in a weird, perverse way, however, when that _damn Uchiha_ failed to bring him to heel. Being stuck in yet ANOTHER human was better then playing pet to that rat-bastard.

The fact that both his old host and her mate died in sealing him within their child was hilariously funny, of course. He thought at the time it would be so easy to convert the boy, he'd done it before. Turn a host evil, reek havoc, and in the end? The only one who really paid was the host. Imagine his surprise when the blond child refused to give into the hateful feelings lurking within. How he fought without relying on Kyuubi's powers, striving to be the kind of man his father was, not that the brat knew that. Kyuubi had to admit, he felt a weird, _pride_ though that wasn't really the word for it, that the kit had done so for a long time without even KNOWING about the fox. Yes, _proud_, like the parent of a babe who just barfed all over your rivals cloths. On the one hand, your rival was covered in baby-goo, but on the other, there was baby-goo to deal with.

Eventually, Kyuubi knew, Naruto would die, and he wouldn't have to worry about these _soft_ stupid _human_ thoughts he had about the boy. So for years, Kyuubi watched Naruto grow into a fine ninja. Sometimes, he'd help the kit, and often times, he'd hinder him. If the fox had been human, one could say he had a love/hate complex with Naruto. All that changed the night Itachi grabbed them.

The great nine-tailed monster, a being who reveled in destruction and death, had been very, very afraid that he was going to die with his host. Worse, despite all his skills, and all his hate, he was powerless to stop it. _So he asked for help_. Help from the one person who he hated/cared for the most. All would have been fine if their joint struggle had ended in naught. Or better still, if Naruto had died freeing the fox. Kyuubi would have remembered the event much more fondly.

But No.

Naruto, in that way that the fox _hated_ to be _proud_ of, pulled off the impossible and got them free. The kit might think differently, but it was all Naruto, and not much Kyuubi that saved them. Kyuubi was humiliated, enraged, shamed, proud, furious, and well, basically really pissed off. Never mind that Naruto thought it was the Kyuubi that saved him, Kyuubi knew the truth, and for that, Naruto had to pay. Yet, the fox could not bring himself to kill the child, or simply allow someone else to do so.

So the fox came up with a plan, a brilliantly amazing plan taking advantage of their new….arrangement. With his new greater freedom, he started to eat away at Naruto's mind. Not poisoning it with hate and rage, as he would have done to any other host, oh no, never that. He just, well, _altered_ some memories, tainted the things they boy held dear. Removed others, only to bring them back later. Showed him all sorts of intrusting _fun_ things.

Of course, he made sure Naruto KNEW what he was doing, if not the why. All the while, he forcefully merged their chakra. This merging further weakened Kyuubi's cage, and had the added benefit of weakening Naruto's mind as well. All the better for the fox.

Soon, there would be nothing left in the henhouse except for a very happy, fat fox.

Of course, he had expected those horrid Ninja to figure out his game eventually. He knew they'd try and stop him, even if he had not been quite sure what method they'd use. He had to admit, tying Naruto down to a bed and running lots of loud, invasive tests was not something he was expecting.

_**And here I was thinking if I got the kit to kill his master things would get so much more interesting. Who knew him FAILING to do so would be so amusing?**_ Kyubi struggled lightly against the straps holding him into the bed. Without opening Naruto's eyes, he could only tell that they were somewhere in the hospital, far away from everyone else. The room he found them in smelled faintly of bleach, and mostly of fear. It sounded to him as if there were, three, no, four people in the room with him, though none were watching the blond at the moment. _**Let's have some fun, shall we?**_

"mmmmuugh," he tried out Naruto's voice, "Where am I? Wha…what happened?" He heard someone approach the bed, and kept his eyes closed.

"Naruto-kun, how are you feeling?"

"My head hurts Baa-chan….Why am I tied down? What happened?" He hitched his voice, "Oh no! Is ero-sennin all right?"

Tsunade placed a cool hand on his forehead, "He's fine, everything will be all right Naruto, I promise will fix this."

"That's right, Naruto!" Jiraiya added, coming over to the bed. He moved slowly, even though his student's eyes were closed, he didn't want him to see him walking a little stiffly. "Tsunade will have this figured out in a jiff, so we just need you to hang in there for just a bit longer."

"You can't fix this!" Wailed the fox, pretending to be Naruto, "I almost killed you!"

"But you didn't."

"I thought I had!" silence answered this.

"Naruto. I've seen your room." Tsunade began, "Why didn't you tell me that the fox had gotten so bad? Or Jiraiya? You didn't have to keep it from us." In truth the room bad been worse then she had expected after talking with Sakura and Karin. If the fox was in that much control when Naruto was sleeping, it was a good thing they had tied him down. "Maybe I could have help you."

Naruto smiled, and Tsunade felt a chill go down her spine. **"Maybe I didn't want you to know." **With that the fox threw himself at her, only to be jerked short before he could even sit up by the restraints. **"Pathetic. You think these will stop me?"** He turned his head and grinned at Jiraiya, red eyes glowing slightly, **"How does it feel to almost die by your student's hand? You couldn't stop me then, what makes you think you can now?"** Kyuubi laughed before turning his hate-filled eyes to where Sakura stood with Shizune. **"Oh good, you brought me lunch. I love raw pork."** He pulled hard on the restraints, and the ones holding his arms gave. Before he could capitalize on this, however, Jiraiya threw himself on to of Naruto/Kyuubi trying to force him back down.

Tsunade ran over to the counter, "Someone go find Yamato NOW! Shizune, help me get him sedated!"

The door slammed open and Kakashi, and Hellboy swarmed into the room as Sakura dodged around them to find Yamato. The two men took one look at Naruto's red eyes and leapt into action. Hellboy grabbed his legs just as they broke free of the restraints as Kakashi worked with Jiraiya on pinning the boy. All the while, the fox laughed.

_**Wake up, my little kit, greet the day with that stupid smile of yours now.**_Kyuubi growled in Naruto's mind. Outwardly, he thrashed at his captors and snarled at Tsunade.

The air stank of fear. Fear and pain. Something, no someone was holding him, and he couldn't get away…_no no NO no NO NOT AGAIN! _Naruto awoke to find himself being, from his perspective, attacked. It was too much like his hazy memories of what had happened with the Akaski. He panicked, and thrashed harder, but the harder he fought the harder the others held him down. He didn't know who these people were….why they were doing this to him….

"AAAAHHHAA! LET ME GO LET ME GO!"

"Shizune, where's that sedative?" Tsunade snapped, frightened for her young friend, "You listen to me you demonic bastard, you hurt him and so help me…." she growled into the thrashing youth's ear.

"LET ME GO! Why are you doing this to me? I don't know what you're talking about, lady, I swear it!"

A sudden stillness came over the room, Kakashi, Jiraiya and Hellboy all loosened their grip on the blond, who immediately pulled free and threw himself as far away as he could get. "Naruto?" Tsunade asked, looking into his eyes. She reached forward to hug him, "It is you! I was so worried….!"

The fox-boy flinched away from her, "Don't touch me!"

Jiraiya frowned, "Hey now, she was worried about you, kid. We all were, especially when…."

"_Liar!_"

"Naruto!"

"How do you know my name?" glared the boy, ears flat against his skull. "Where am I?" Shizune gasped, dropping the sedative.

"Naruto, look at me." Jiraiya commanded, when Naruto complied, he spoke slowly, "I am your teacher. The fox inside you is doing something to you. We're trying to fix it. I need you to trust us."

Naruto snarled at him, "I don't believe you! What fox? How stupid do you think I am? You just want to find out about…" he looked confused for a second, putting a hand up to his head, "…like _them_, you just wanna use the…the…fox?" The blond shook his head, his brain felt like it was on fire, "ERAH, My head…What did you do…?….The fox….? I don't remember a….." Yamato chose that moment to come bursting into the room, Sakura hot on his heals, with the rest of team seven not far behind. Naruto's head snapped around, a snarl on his lips that vanished as his ears came back up, "Huh? Why do you look so worried Sakura-chan? What's Yamato doing here?" He looked around, "Why is everyone looking at me like that? Jiraiya! Are you ok? I'm sorry! The fox…I couldn't stop him!"

"I'm fine, lad. More importantly, how are you feeling?"

"Huh? Fine. My head hurts a little but other then that I'm great."

Tsunade shared a look with Yamato, one that promised that she would explain later before looking into Naruto's eyes, "I need you to tell me everything that you remember about the attack to now."

"Why?"

"Naruto, that's an order. You should have told me something was wrong long before this. Hiding anything now will only hurt you, you've got to know that."

"I…" He pouted a moment before he started, "I was getting the sake, and one moment I talking to ero-sennin, and the next he was covered in blood, dead at my feet. There was so much blood….." he shuddered, "it was all over me, the smell, the feel of it. It was horrible. But then suddenly everything was fine again. It just, the vision was so real this time… I hid in his bathroom, 'cause I needed to calm down. His mirror was covered in soap, so I wiped it off. But, the Kyuubi was the one looking back at me. It's kinda hazy after that. I remember Jiraiya talking to me, and trying to kill him, but it wasn't _me_ moving my body, and I couldn't stop it. I swear it wasn't me. I remember getting hurt…..and then nothing until Yamato came in with Sakura-chan." Silence reigned for a while before Naruto gulped nervously, "Why, what did I miss?"

Tsunade sighed, looking around at all the worried faces, "Naruto...I think we have a problem."

* * *

**Author's Note: Kitsune here! Sorry for the long wait, I've got no real good excuse, other then I've kinda run myself into a corner with this. I wanna end the story soon, and I know some stuff that's got to happen...but the story is just NOT co-operating with me! I tell it to go left...and it goes right...so. While I argue with the story on how we're going to end, there's going to be a bit of a break. Anyway. Thank you all who've read and reviewed this! It really makes me happy when I see Review alerts in my inbox, as well as watch alerts. I feel sooo loved! I'm off to go wrestle the next chunk of this story down.**


	22. Coups, Differences, and Identity

**Kitsune here with a new chap. I've got to admit, typing this one was like pulling teeth for a while...but then once I started, it kind of wrote it's self. Sadly, I have NO CLUE where this is going. So...I know there is at least one more chapter, but I don't know if that'll be the end, or how it will end. This story kind of has a mind of it's own.**

**Anyway! I want to thank everyone who's added this story to their faves or alerts, and of course all the people who have reviewed. Without you guys, this unwieldy story would have been dumped, but no worries about that! I hope to get the new chapter done soon, but we will have to see how co-operative it is.**

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"You want to talk to Naruto? Oh-ho, I'm hurt, really, I am." The fox laughed, "Fine, you can talk to the kit, or what's left of him anyway."

"You bastard..."

"That's right hate me all you want, I've already won." He grinned, a parody of Naruto's famous smile. He closed his blood-red eyes for a second, expression becoming serious. Tsunade ground her teeth. It _KILLED_ her to have to ask the fox to let them speak with Naruto, but more and more often, the one who greeted them in the room was the fox. Even when it was Naruto, it was like he didn't even know them. She was losing him, and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. Even Hellboy and his friends were pouring over scrolls in an attempt to help the boy, all plans to go home temporarily suspended.

To make things worse, after Danzo's attempt to get to both Sasuke and Itachi to kill them and start a coup, the council was cracking down on dangerous elements. On the one hand, Itachi's past came to light, and he had been cleared. On the other...the council saw Naruto's condition as a threat to the village. It didn't help that Gaara had gotten wind of the situation_ (cough cough Shikimaru cough cough)_ and was threatening war if the council arranged a little "accident" for Naruto. He was, in fact, on his way and would arrive in a day or two.

There was a knock on the door and Jiraiya came in. He didn't say a word as he looked at the fox-boy tied to the bed. He'd come to ask Tsunade, on behest of the council, who would replace Donzo...but this was more important.

"**FUCK**!" The fox growled out, eyes snapping open, still blood red. "FUCK! that stupid little shit!"

"Where's Naruto?" Growled out Tsunade, "I thought you were going to give him back his body now?"

"When the **hell** did I say that you, old hag?" The demon actually snapped his restraints, proving that he had just been toying with them, "Looks like your out of luck, though, bitch. I can't reach him. FUCK." The fox stomped up to her, ignoring the ANBU officers that came bursting into the room.

_can't reach him...no, he couldn't..._"What do you mean?" Tsunade asked, grabbing Kyuubi's shirt, "WHAT did you DO?"

"Hey, hands off! This is my body now and I won't have you roughing it up." The fox said with a grin, before his expression turned sour, "Fucking shit. I can't believe this, I should have had a couple more weeks of playing with him first. This isn't fair at all."

Jiraiya was in shock, "NOT FAIR? You shouldn't be the one talking about fair, you monster. Now what the hell happened to Naruto?"

"Nothing...except I can't reach him." The fox frowned, "He's under the water now and hell if I know how he got there." The red eyes fixed the sage with a baleful glare, "I blame you." he said petulantly.

"What?"

"You were that bastard's teacher, right? So this is your fault."

_Wait...I taught Naruto so this is my fault...and why is the fox acting like a kid denied candy?_

"So he taught Naruto, how does that make it his fault?"

"Not Naruto." The fox growled, finally pulling away from Tsuade and begain to pace, "The other one. I should have KNOWN he'd plan some shit...but the seal warped, so I should have been safe..." He pulled his hair, "GAH! HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU HAVE TO KILL A GUY?"

"Wait...Minato?"

"YES! Fucker musta did something...he's getting in my way AGAIN! **HE CAN'T HAVE NARUTO!**" The fox snarled, "The boy is_ mine_."

Tusnade had had enough, "He's not yours, you demonic piece of shit! Naruto belongs to the village, to his friends and family!"

Kyuubi started to chuckle, "Oh really now?"

"YES! He's not your plaything, he's..."

The fox laughed harder, interrupting her, "oh, please, keep going! This is great. haha...tell me again how he's not mine!" He pointed at Jiraiya, "He can tell you how the kit's mother was treated in this village...it was NOTHING compared to what happened to the boy." He grinned sardonically, "but then again, this shit up and left right after the kit was whelped, didn't he? So you wouldn't know that then..."

"The third," Jiraiya begain, "Understood why I had to leave. He was looking after the boy..." He felt a twinge of guilt. He'd never gotten a strait answer from the third on what Naruto's early life had been like...and he'd always been to afraid to ask the boy.

"Oh, Sarutobi tried to 'look after' the boy. I'll grant the crappy old shit that. He spent plenty of time next to Naruto's bed while he recovered from the latest beating...but he never stopped the beatings, now did he? Or encourage people to open up to Naruto." He shrugged, "Naruto belongs to the village? They've taken more then their pound of flesh. His Family? Dead. His friends? Don't make me laugh, he didn't HAVE any before he became a genin." The fox pulled a thoughtful expression, "Ah! But he's always had me, though, hasn't he?"

"That's not the same! You're evil..."

"Not the same? Old man, you should have asked Naruto about his childhood. Not that it would have done you any good. I, uh... softened the edges some parts...of course, some memories had to be...removed before the boy completely lost it." Tsunade stared at him in shock. To her, it sounded as if the fox had been helping Naruto..."Couldn't have him go on a rampage before he was strong enough to hold up to my chakra."

"Really? Is that the reason you played with his mind? What about now?"

The fox shrugged again, "Shits and giggles? The point is, you hag, Naruto is mine, he's always been mine." His eyes rolled back into his head, and the boy's body dropped, only to be caught by Jiraiya.

"Actually," The fox-boy said, "He's kind of _Mine_, wouldn't you agree?" Brilliant blue eyes opened with a smile directed at his teacher.

"N...Naruto?" The old sage helped the boy up.

"Sorry, Sensei, It's Minato. I set a condition in the seal that would allow me to appear when Naruto was in danger of becoming the 9 tailed fox...but it seems something has gone terribly wrong. Kushina managed to bull him into the seal while the fox wasn't looking... but now we're at a bit of an impasse. Would someone mind telling me what he hell happened to my son?"


	23. Notes, guests and Muffins

**Kitsune here with the complete inability to spell right now (Migraine) But I wanted to get this one done and up. YAY to all my reviewers and all those who have faved this story, or added it to your alerts. Special thanks to Vampydarkangel for a review that had to be shared for sheer pick-me-up ness. Also hope this one is long enough for you narutorasatard.**

**As usual, any mistakes this, let me know so I can fix it, right? I give up predicting how many more chapters.**

* * *

"Kushina wants me to tell you that she doesn't appreciate you having her son help in your 'research' by the way, Sensei." Minato smiled, "But, it's lucky for me you still love to write right now..." He swiftly pulled a pen and some paper out of Jiraiya's hidden pocket as he stood up. Furiously he scribbled a seal on the page before lifting up his-Naruto's shirt and placing it over the warped seal, "Sealing paper would be better, but this will have to do for now" he appied some chakra to the paper, setting it in place. Immediatly, the opressive feel of the room dissapated. "Now, Tsunade-san, Jiraiya-sensei, tell me, what the hell did I miss."

"Minato...is that reall you? Ah! quick! do you know a way to fix the seal?" Tsuanade asked, grabbing the man's arm.

"Not until I have a better idea of what is going on." Minato said, feeling the ears on top of his head, "Now, this is weird...is that...is that a tail as well? Geez, Naruto, what on Earth have you been up to with that overgrown furrball while your old man was away? Could someone get me some seal-paper and ink please? I think this is going to take a while and we wouldn't want the fox to take over in the middle of it. To be honest, I don't know how many more times I can switch with the fox, if at all." He looked at their worried faces, "No, not like that! I'm strong enough to make the switch, especially with Kushina backing me up, but it's really not good for Naruto physically or mentally for there to be too many switches."

"Your right of course," Tusnade put in, "I noticed a drop in his over-all health each time he and the Kyuubi switched places. YOU!" she pointed to an ANBU, "Go get the nessisary suplies! The rest of you, return to your posts!"

* * *

Hellboy sighed as he walked back over to the building Naruto and his team had been staying in, until Naruto was hospitlized that is. The others were already there, he was sure, but he had stopped by to let the pinapple-head they were going to visit Naruto if he wanted to come. Shikamaru had said something about it being troublesome and a VIP visiter coming before saying he'd see them all later.

It really was troublesome. Just the other day, right before that Danzo-asshole's attempt for a coup, they'd discovered a way to get home, only to realize the'd need the help of a Jinchuuriki to open the gate. Unfortunatly, that wasn't really and option with the only two friendly ones being Gaara, who lost his beast, and Naruto, who was lost _to_ his. So it was back to square one. Not that they had been planing on leaving Naruto in such a way before he was better anyway. It might have been Naruto's village, but the girls had heard some _uncomfortable_ things some of the adults said. Things like how the village would be better off without a certain blonde ninja.

If it wasn't for the fact that Father would kill him, he'd consider taking out a few of these jerks, show them a REAL monster...but no. It would be bad for interdimetional relationships and all that. Didn't mean he couldn't dream though, now did it?

"Hey, kiddies! I'm here, the lazy pinapple said he meet us there later." Hellboy called as he entered the building. He put up his stone hand, blocking the kunai Sasuke tossed his way, "Nice try, asshole, but you missed by a mile."

"Tch." Sasuke grumped as he caught the returned kunai. It looked like the visit with his brother today had been a little hard, the boy's eyes were a bit red, like he had been crying, but Hellboy wasn't going to bring it up. Had to be tough to find out that the guy that killed your family did it to protect everyone FROM said family. Of course, Itachi was still living under extreme protective custody with his shark-y friend. Turned out that they'd diched the Akaski group after Naruto had gone poof. The leader had gone into seclusion, and a lot of members had died crushed under the rocks when Naruto pulled down the cave. Of course, some had mysteriously turned up dead later too. "The girls are with Sai in the kitchen," the raven-haired punk spoke up, distracting Hellboy from his thoughts, "Something about a home cooked meal being good for the soul."

"Ahh, I see. And you're not giving them a hand, why?" Hellboy asked as he clomped over to the couch, taking a seat as Sauske made room for him.

"That would be because he can't cook" Abe called, exiting the kitchen with some sodas. As he handed them off he continued, "Much like yourself, he's a bit dangerous in the kitchen."

"Oh yeah, fish-face? what about you?" Growled the youth.

Abe just shrugged, "Different ideas of what is tasty, is all. Liz won't let me help cook anymore."

To Sasuke's perplexed look, Hellboy explained, "This guy here? His favorite snack is _ROTTEN_ eggs. Seriously, we're talking BLACK they're so bad. So no, you don't want him cooking for you."

"Baby."

"Riiiight...So, anyway, Mr. troublesome said he'd meet us there. Something about some VIP and the council, I wan't really paying any attention. Do I smell Muffins?" Hellboy sniffed the air appreciatively, "Mmmmm Muffins..."

"They're not for you~" came the call from the kitchen.

"Stingy, Sparky. Anyway, I figure we'd head over as soon as the ladies are done."

Kate came out from the kitchen with Sakura in tow, "Well then, it'll just be a minute, Liz is finnishing with the Muffins. It's so much faster cooking with a pyrokinetic then an oven."

* * *

"Tsunade-sama we're comming in!" called Sakura, full of false cheer. She was almost hating these visits, hating the fox's mocking laughter and Naruto's empty eyes equally. She refused to give up hope though, and Team seven would be DAMNED if they abandoned Naruto, they'd all agreed on that, even Sasuke.

"The other's are leaving a message at the front desk for Shikimaru..." the site that greeted her was odd. Naruto wasn't tied down to the bed, in fact, he had been apparently looking over the charts making notes. Jiraiya was leaning against the window, most likely waiting for Kakashi, and Tsuande was resting in a chair. It was very surreal. "Na...Naruto?"

The blond looked up, bright blue eyes slightly confused for a second as he looked at the three teens, "Ah! You must be Sakura-chan Sai-kun and Sasuke-kun...Let's see, Sai is the slightly more pale one, right?" The teen stood, putting the charts down, "I'd like to thank you for takeing care of Naruto..."

"Why are you speeking in third person? We discussed this last time," Sai put in, "YOU are Naruto. You. Not the Kyuubi. We don't listen to the fox, Naruto..."

The blond just stared at them as Kakashi appeared at the window.

"Hokage-sama, may I ask why my student is out of bed?" Kakashi waved off Jiraiya, choosing instead to grab Naruto and turn him so he could look at the boy, checking his eye color. "You shouldn't be out of bed yet. You're not well." He said kindly.

"Oh! Kakashi-kun, you've grown so much!" the blond smiled, "Wait, no, it's that Naruto is shorter then I was, though I'm sure he'll grow a bit more. But still, you've gotten so much taller. And you have your own team of students!" He hugged Kakashi, "I'm so proud of you!" Kakashi for his part, froze, being seriously creeped out.

"Ok, this is just weird. What kind of crap is the fox pulling this time?"

"I'm not the Kyuubi, Sasuke-kun, but I can understand the confusion, he's been playing havoc with everything, according to the charts," He looked pensive, "Just what the hell is that furry bastard up to?"

"Ano..." Sakura begain, "If you're not the fox, then you're Naruto, right?"

"No" The blond shot a look to Tsunade and Jiraiya, who just shrugged.

"I'm confused."

"Well, there's really no point in hiding it, since the fox has made such a mess of things anyway, I guess." The blond formally bowed to them, "I'm Namikaze Minato, it's a pleasure to meet team seven."

"Cut the bullshit, Naruto, that's not funny," growled Sasuke.

"No, really! I'm the Namikaze!"

"Then why are you in Naruto's body? Didn't the fourth..."

"Die when the Kyuubi was sealed? Yes I did, But I ended up sealing part of my soul and Kushina's into Naruto as well as the Kuuybi." He looked at Kaskashi, who had sat down, heavily, on the bed, "Totally dilberatly of course."

"I think...I need to sit down."

"You are sitting, Kakashi. Just take some deep breaths, I know it's a bit of a shock." Tusanade came over to the distraught captain, "It's true though."

"Knock Knock! It's Your friendly inter-dimensional visiters, and we braught Muffins!" Liz Popped her head in, muffin basket swinging in to veiw.

"Oh. My. God! The Fourth Hokage? HERE? In Naruto?"

"Wait, what?" Liz frowned, then noticed Naruto standing in front of Sakura, Sai and Sasuke. His blue eyes met hers and she frowned harder before stomping into the room. "Hold this," She growled, shoving the basket of muffins at Sasuke before getting into the fox-boy's face.

"Hello, I'm..."

"Yeah, I heard. 'The Fourth Hokage', right?" She slapped him, hard. "Jackass." Liz stepped to the side, only to be replaced by Kate, who had handed her basket of sandwitches to Sai.

"Excuse Liz, she's not very good at introductions." Kate smiled, "I'm Kate, that was Liz. You must be the son-of-a-bitch who sealed a demonic nine-tailed fox into Naruto as a new-born, leaving him to be the object of hatered and scorn in this village and a target for psycho's trying to take over the world, right?" She slapped him as hard as she could on the other cheek before making room for Abe, who had entere4d the room in time to hear her rundown.

Minato looked at the blue man before him warely, watching as he blinked both sets of eyelids, seeming to be deep in thought. "Are you going to slap me, too?"

Abe held up a had, showing the webbed fingers, "No, I'm a touch-empath, so I don't slap." Minato sighed in relief before Abe continued, "My partner, however, doesn't have that problem."

Hellboy had been standing in the hall, leaning against the wall. His hearing meant that he had heard Liz slap this guy, and he had defiantly heard Kate's rundown. She'd done that so he and Abe would know what they were walking into, as well as tell this Minato that they new _Exactly_ who he was. In fact, she had left out the most important fact.

When they had seen the fourth's carving on the montain, they'd joked amongst themselves that other then it being the wrong color, it looked just like Naruto. Of course in a small enclosed population, that wasn't too unusual. When Kate had found a picture of the fourth in the archives while looking for a way to help Naruto, the joke didn't seem so funny anymore.

He entered the room at the end of Abe's statement. Minato had to admit, this man was scary. He was huge, red, had a massive stone-arm, a tail and what seemed like horns. that wasn't what made him scary though. The man was PISSED, oozing a killing aura despite his obvious attempt to control it. Calmly he pushed past the teens to stand before Minato.

"Now, Abe, you know I don't slap people. Slapping is for girls." The giant grinned evilly, raising his stone hand and grabbing the front of the hospital gown, "I like to punch things. Or sometimes, I like to shoot 'um. But I definatly don't slap things."

"I See." _Crap, I'm dead._

"The reason I'm NOT going to do so, even though I really, _REALLY_ want to is simple. You're already dead, and in tryin' to hurt your sorry abandoning-prick-ass, I'd just hurt Naruto here. Maybe the fox too." He picked up Minato so they were eye to eye, "Now the fox, he'd deserve it, but _your son_ has been though enough shit, don't you think?"

Sakura's legs gave out only to be caught by Abe while Kate and Liz retrieved the food before it fell from numbed fingers, "I see. So you know that Naruto's my son. Who told you?"

"No one, asshole. It's not like it's particuarlly difficult to figure out. You looked just like him, which explained the decided lack of photos of the 'village hero' doesn't it?" Hellboy put Minato down, "Just gotta know why."

"Because I was trying to help him, believe it or not. Saving the village was nice too."


End file.
